REESE  LIBRARY 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

*/yiaSb »          u  / 


-  Accessions  No.  leffl^  /. 


CA/s.s  No. 


JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER 


AND 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT 


BY 

B.  A.   H1NSDALE. 
\\ 


CMETHE      ^N 

(XTNIVERSITT) 


ST.  Louis: 
CHRISTIAN  PUBLISHING  COMPANY, 

1895. 


COPYRIGHTED,    895, 

by 
CHRISTIAN  PUBLISHING  COMPANY. 


PREFACE. 


PURSUING,  as  I  have  done  for  many  years,  the  practice  of 
the  Art  of  Teaching,  I  have  naturally  been  led  to  study  this  art 
on  its  reflective  side,  and  also  the  related  science  of  teaching, 
together  with  the  history  of  education .  This  has  been  particu- 
larly true  since,  several  years  ago,  it  became  my  professional 
duty  to  teach  these  subjects.  My  studies  in  the  historical  field 
have  embraced,  not  merely  educational  doctrine,  or  pedagogical 
subject -matter,  but  also  educational  method  and  spirit  as  illus- 
trated by  some  of  the  great  teachers  of  the  world  Long  ago  I 
had  given  incidental  attention  to  these  last -mentioned  elements 
in  Jesus  of  Nazareth ,  while  studying  His  lessons ;  but  now  I 
came  to  study  Him  distinctly  from  the  professional  point  of  view. 
I  found  myself  at  a  loss  which  to  admire  most,  what  He  taught 
or  how  He  taught  it.  In  time  I  began  to  write  on  the  subject, 
and  soon  what  I  had  written  took  the  form  of  a  series  of  articles 
bearing  the  title,  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER,  which  appeared  in  '  'The 
Christian  -  E  vangelist.  "  My  original  purpose  was  to  put  the 
formal  elements  in  the  foreground,  and  to  use  doctrine  only  for 
the  sake  of  illustration ;  and  if,  as  time  wore  on,  the  relation  of 
the  two  factors  began  somewhat  to  change ,  the  reader  will  have 
no  difficulty  in  discovering  the  reason  why.  However,  when 
the  series  was  finished  the  formal,  art,  or  professional  side  had 
received  the  emphasis.  Methods  of  teaching  depend  intimately 


iv  PREFACE. 

upon  the  matter  taught ;  more  than  once  I  have  had  occasion  to 
remark  that  the  teacher  of  science  or  philosophy,  mathematics 
or  history,  could  not  possibly  handle  his  subjects  as  Jesus  handled 
His  spiritual  lessons ;  while  I  may  now  observe  that  it  is  impos- 
sible to  keep  the  lessons  of  Jesus  out  of  sight  while  dealing  with 
Him  as  a  professional  teacher.  The  series  of  chapters  that  give 
this  book  its  leading  title  are  largely  composed  of  these  earlier 
articles.  At  the  same  time,  they  have  all  been  thoroughly 
reorganized  and  revised ;  considerable  additions  have  been  made 
to  nearly  all  of  them,  while  many  new  topics  have  been  intro- 
duced. The  chapter  entitled,  "How  Jesus  used  the  Scrip- 
tures," as  well  as  considerable  portions  of  the  one  called 
' '  The  Education  of  Jesus , ' '  appeared  in  nearly  the  same  form 
as  here  in  ' '  The  New  Christian  Quarterly. ' ' 

To  the  leading  series  of  chapters,  a  second  one  has  been  added 
on  a  somewhat  related  theme :  THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW  TESTA- 
MENT. These  chapters  are  a  reproduction ,  with  the  necessary 
revision  and  enlargement,  of  a  series  of  articles  bearing  the 
same  title  that  appeared  in  ' '  The  Disciple  of  Christ ' '  in  1884. 
That  publication  is  not  now  living,  but  the  thanks  of  the  author 
are  tendered  to  its  publishers  for  permission  to  use  these 
articles  for  the  present  purpose.  The  object  and  point  of  view 
of  this  second  series  of  chapters  are  adequately  stated  in  the 
introduction. 

It  may  not  be  amiss  to  state  that  neither  of  the  works  making 
up  this  volume  (if  works  they  may  be  called)  is,  or  pretends  to 
be,  a  treatise  on  its  subject.  The  reader  will  form  the  truest 
conception  of  the  first  one  when  he  regards  it  as  composed  of  a 
series  of  studies,  more  or  less  imperfect  and  disconnected,  deal- 
ing with  many  of  the  most  important  phases  that  Jesus  pre- 
sents to  us  as  a  teacher.  Other  phases  could  have  been  sim- 
ilarly treated,  and  these  could  have  been  treated  much  more 
thoroughly.  While  more  systematic  in  plan  and  treatment,  the 


PREFACE.  v 

second  work  is  but  an  outline  of  a  great  subject.  In  writing 
these  last  chapters  I  had  two  classes  of  persons  in  mind — 
those  who  are  content  with  an  outline,  and  those  who  seek  a 
scheme  that  they  may  follow,  and  more  or  less  fill  out  by  sub- 
sequent reading  and  study.  But  impefect  as  the  two  series 
are ,  they  are  now  published  in  the  belief  that  the  things  done , 
as  done,  were  distinctly  worth  doing. 

I  shall  take  formal  leave  of  the  volume  with  earnestly  recom- 
mending all  readers  who  are  occupied  with,  or  interested  in, 
the  function  of  teaching,  no  matter  what  the  subject-matter,  to 
study  Jesus  as  a  Teacher,  and  especially  teachers  of  morals  and 
religion.  He  is  the  great  Master  of  ethical  method. 

B.  A.  HINSDALE. 
The  University  of  Michigan,  March  31,  1895. 


LTT 


3e0u0  as  a  fteacber 


^x, 
ITT; 


£4UFORNlA>^ 


JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 


CHAPTER 


PAGE 

I.  AN  INTRODUCTORY  VIEW       ....                 1 

II.    THE  EDUCATION  OF  JESUS.— 1 15 

III.  THE  EDUCATION  OF  JESUS.— II 25 

IV.  His  INSIGHT  INTO  MIND  AND  CHARACTER     .        .        42 
V.  His  RELATION  TO  TRADITION  AND  LEGALISM       .       54 

VI.  How  JESUS  USED  THE  SCRIPTURES        ...        65 

VII.  His  HISTORICAL  ANTECEDENTS      ....       90 

VIII.    His  INSTITUTIONS 104 

IX.    His  AUTHORITY 113 

X.  His  USE  OF  ACCOMMODATION         ....      124 

XI.    His  METHODS  OF  TEACHING.— 1 135 

XII.  His  METHODS  OF  TEACHING.— II.           .        .        .145 

XIII.  His  METHODS  OF  TEACHING.— III.         .        .        .158 

XIV.  His  RECOGNITION  OF  APPERCEPTION      .        .        .169 
XV.  His  USE  OE  THE  DEVELOPING  METHOD         .        .176 

XVI.  His  RECOGNITION  OF  MORAL  PERSPECTIVE   .        .184 

XVII.  How  HE  HANDLED  CASES      .        .        .        .        .      190 

XVIII.    His  SEVERITY 201 

XIX.  JESUS   AND   THE   CHILD      .           .           .           .                       .        213 

XX.  His  THEORY  OF  TEACHING                                           227 


viii  CONTENTS. 

THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW   TESTAMENT. 

CHAPTER  PAO* 

I.  OBJECT  AND  POINT  OF  VIEW  STATED            .        .  249 

II.  THE  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS 254 

III.  THE  PREACHING  OF  THE  APOSTLES        .        .        .256 

IV.  THE  EPISTLES 265 

V.  THE  GOSPELS 273 

VI.  THE  EVANGELICAL  TRADITION  .  .  .  .285 

VII.  SOME  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  DOCUMENTS  .  291 

VIII.  THE  CANON  IN  ITS  FIRST  STAGE  .  .  .  .  300 

IX.  THE  CANON  IN  ITS  SECOND  STAGE  .  .  .  309 

X.  FURTHER  HISTORY  OF  THE  CANON  317 


€£SE  • 
\ 
PIS  IT  Y) 
* 


JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 


CHAPTER  I. 

AN   INTRODUCTORY   VIEW. 

CHRISTIANITY  consists  of  a  Gospel  and  a  discipline. 
Out  of  this  fundamental  distinction  arise  the  two 
distinctive  functions  of  the  Christian  ministry.  One 
is  to  preach  this  Gospel,  the  other  to  teach  this  dis- 
cipline: preaching  and  teaching.  These  two  func- 
tions, which  we  constantly  tend  to  blend  and  confuse, 
The  New  Testament  as  constantly  keeps  distinct  and 
separate. 

The  noun  keerux  is  found  in  the  Greek  Testament 
three  times:  it  means  an  embassador,  a  public  mes- 
senger, a  herald.  The  verb  keerusso  is  found  sixty 
times :  its  meaning  is  to  make  proclamation,  to  an- 
nounce publicly  or  proclaim  some  message,  generally 
of  a  public  or  official  character.  Keerugma  is  used 
eight  times:  it  means  what  is  announced,  made  pub- 
lic, or  proclaimed.  In  civil  affairs  the  Grecian  keerux 
summoned  the  public  assembly,  and  in  military  af- 
fairs he  carried  messages  between  hostile  armies. 
These  are  the  words  that  are  rendered  "preacher," 
"preach,"  and  "preaching"  in  the  English  Testament. 

The  words  well  harmonize  with  uangelion,  the  good  tid- 
2  (1) 


2  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

ings.  As  De  Presseuse  has  said:  "All  the  expressions 
employed  in  The  New  Testament  to  designate  the 
proclamation  of  the  new  truth  set  aside  the  notion 
of  written  documents;"  "The  Gospel  was  at  first 
nothing  but  the  proclamation  of  the  good  news  of 
pardon  flying  from  mouth  to  mouth."*  The  central 
idea  is  well  expressed  in  the  well-known  passage  of 
Isaiah  that  Jesus  appropriated  to  Himself. 

The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  me, 

Because  Ha  anointed  me  to  preach  good  tidings  to  the  poor : 

He  hath  sent  me  to  proclaim  release  to  the  captives , 

And  recovering  of  sight  to  the  blind, 

To  set  at  liberty  them  that  are  bruised, 

To  proclaim  the  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord,  f 

In  the  four  Gospels  alone  didaskalos  is  applied  to 
Jesus  about  fifty  times:  it  is  sometimes  translated 
teacher,  but  commonly  master.  Didasko  is  found 
even  more  frequently:  it  means  to  instruct,  to  in- 
form, to  teach.  Didaskalia  and  didachee,  found  less 
frequently,  signify  doctrine  or  teaching.  These  are 
the  words  that  the  Greeks  commonly  applied  to  the 
corresponding  pedagogical  facts.  Not  only  in  the 
Gospels,  but  also  in  The  Acts  and  the  Epistles  the 
leading  words  of  this  family  abound. 

Such  are  the  words  that  express  the  two  primal 
functions  of  the  Christian  ministry,  and  such  the 
ideas  that  these  words  convey.  The  word  "minis- 
try" itself  is  generic,  including  both  preaching  and 
teaching,  and  in  fact  all  other  forms  of  Christian 
service. 

*  Jesus  Christ:    Times,  Life,  and  Work.    London,  1868,  p.  133. 
t  Luke  iv. 


AN  INTRODUCTORY  VIEW.  3 

The  prophets  of  The  Old  Testament  were  preach- 
ers rather  than  teachers.  The  Hebrew  word  nabi  is 
derived  from  the  verb  naba,  which  means,  in  its  re- 
ligious sense,  to  speak,  or  to  sing,  under  a  divine  affla- 
tus or  impulse.  "Prophet"  is  derived  from  the 
Greek  preposition  pro  and  the  verb  phemi,  to  say  or 
to  speak.  The  force  of  the  word  is  well  expressed  by 
Dean  Stanley  in  this  passage : 

The  Greek  preposition  pro,  as  compounded  in  the  word 
'  'Pro-phet, ' '  has,  as  is  well  known,  the  three -fold  meaning  of 
'  'beforehand,  "  "in  public, ' '  and  '  'in  behalf  of"  or  *  'for. ' ' 
It  is  possible  that  all  these  three  meanings  may  have  a  place  in 
the  word.  But  the  one  which  unquestionably  predominates  in 
its  original  meaning  is  the  third, — "one  who  speaks  for,  "  or 
as  "the  mouthpiece  of  another."  As  applied,  therefore,  by 
The  Septuagint,  in  The  Old  Testament,  and  by  the  writers  of  The 
New  Testament,  who  have  taken  the  word  from  The  Septuagint, 
it  is  used  simply  to  express  the  same  idea  as  that  intended  in  the 
Hebrew  Nabi;  not  foreteller,  nor  (as  has  been  said  more  truly, 
but  not  with  absolute  exactness),  forth-teller ,  but  "spokes- 
man, ' '  and  (in  the  religious  sense  in  which  it  is  almost  invari- 
ably used)  "expounder"  and  "interpreter"  of  the  Divine 
Mind.* 

The  original  idea  of  preaching  is  well  exemplified 
in  John  the  Baptist. t  He  came  preaching  in  the  wil- 
derness of  Judea.  His  whole  habit,  character,  and 
mission  made  him  a  preacher.  He  is  never  called  a 
teacher,  and  is  never  said  to  teach.  His  utterances 
that  most  nearly  approach  teaching  are  his  replies  to 
the  people,  the  publicans,  and  the  soldiers  when  they 
ask  him,  "What  shall  we  do?"  He  was  the  herald 


*  History  of  the  Jewish  Church.    Lect.  xix. 
t  Matt,  iii.;  Marki.;  Luke  iii. 

NIVERSITTJ 


4  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

or  harbinger  sent  before  the  Teacher  to  make  ready 
the  way.  He  said  to  the  multitudes  that  resorted  to 
him  from  Jerusalem  and  all  Judea:  " Repent  ye;  for 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand."  He  was  the 
voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness,  "Prepare  ye 
the  way  of  the  Lord,  make  His  paths  straight."  To 
the  Pharisees  and  Sadducees  he  said,  "O  generation 
of  vipers,  who  hath  warned  you  to  flee  from  the  wrath 
to  come?"  Thus  the  very  urgency  of  his  mission — 
the  very  burden  of  his  message — made  John  a 
preacher. 

But  there  is  a  third  family  of  words  that  affiliate 
more  naturally  with  "teacher"  and  "teach"  than 
with  "preacher"  and  "preach."  These  words  are 
suggested  by  pastoral  life.  Poimeen  means  a  shep- 
herd or  pastor;  poimnee,  a  flock;  poimnion,  a  little 
flock;  poimaino,  to  feed,  to  tend  a  flock,  to  shepherd. 
Poimeen  and  poimaino  imply  oversight  or  watch-care. 
These  words  are  applied  to  Jesus.  They  bring  Him 
before  us  in  what  has  been  called  His  best  known  and 
most  loving  office.  He  is  the  Good  Shepherd  who 
knows  His  sheep  and  lays  down  His  life  for  them.*  It 
is  interesting  to  observe  that  the  first  conception  of 
Jesus  to  be  expressed  in  art  was  as  the  Good  Shepherd 
returning  from  the  wilderness,  shepherd's  crook  in 
hand,  bowed  in  form,  with  the  lost  sheep  lying  upon 
His  shoulders.  The  Christian  mind  was  slow  to 
express  its  conceptions  in  the  form  of  art;  but  when 
the  time  came  for  such  expression,  it  was  natural,  as 
Mrs.  Jameson  has  said,  that  "art  should  embody  our 

*  John  x.  10-15. 


AN  INTRODUCTORY  VIEW.  5 

Lord  under  that  form  in  which  He  directly  imaged 
Himself,  or  rather  in  that  among  the  many  types  by 
which  He  explained  His  mission  and  character  to  our 
comprehension  which  were  most  adapted  to  art."  Of 
all  the  symbols  and  metaphors  applied  to  Him  in  The 
New  Testament,  this  one  was  probably  best  adapted 
to  artistic  expression.  "No  wonder,  then,  that  the 
figure  of  the  Good  Shepherd  should  have  been  one  of 
the  earliest,  as  it  was  certainly  the  most  popular  and 
comprehensive,  of  Christian  symbols."  *  From  the 
third  century  we  find  this  symbol  sculptured  in  relief 
on  sarcophagi,  and  painted  in  the  ceilings  of  the  cata- 
combs, as  well  as  figured  on  lamps,  seals,  and  gems. 

While  these  are  not  the  only  titles  conferred  upon 
Jesus,  they  are  the  most  characteristic  and  familiar. 
He  is  a  preacher,  teacher,  and  pastor.  He  preaches, 
evangelizes,  teaches,  and  feeds  His  flock.  However, 
He  does  not  come  before  us  with  the  habit  or  manner 
of  Christian  ministers  who  now  bear  the  same  titles. 
He  did  not  travel  about  the  country  holding  revival 
meetings.  He  was  not  the  pastor  of  a  local  congre- 
gation, or  the  bishop  of  a  diocese.  He  had  no  church 
and  controlled  no  pulpit.  He  does  not  fill  the 
conventional  idea  of  a  missionary.  His  like  is  not 
found  in  the  great  orators  who  have  adorned  Chris- 
tian eloquence  and  shed  luster  on  the  annals  of  the 
pulpit.  He  corresponds  neither  to  the  Jewish  scribe 
nor  to  the  Greek  philosopher.  The  scribe  loved  the 
synagogue,  and  perhaps  still  more  the  seminary  or 

*  The  History  of  Our  Lord  as  Expressed  in  Works  of  Art,  Vol.  II.,  pp. 
«40,  341. 


6  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

college  standing  near  it  where  scribes  were  trained, 
while  the  philosopher  had  his  school.  But  Jesus  had 
no  synagogue  or  college  like  the  scribe;  no  Academy 
like  Plato,  no  Lyceum  like  Aristotle,  no  Porch  like 
Zeno.  He  had  nothing  in  common  with  the  great 
university  teachers  of  the  Middle  Ages  or  of  recent 
times.  He  was  not  reproduced  by  the  great  preach- 
ing orders  of  the  Catholic  Church.  We  find  elements 
that  He  combined  appearing  in  some  or  other  of  these 
V  men  or  orders,  but  He  had  a  character  all  His  own. 

If  these  remarks  have  somewhat  stripped  our 
minds  of  conventional  furniture  and  awakened  curi- 
osity, let  us  see  what  real  and  positive  ideas  we  can 
form  of  His  ministry.  To  do  this  we  must  glance 
along  the  whole  line  of  His  preaching  and  teaching, 
and  gather  up  and  throw  into  one  picture  the  charac- 
teristic facts  and  descriptions.  His  first  recorded 
utterances  upon  subjects  connected  with  His  work  are 
the  conversations  with  John,  Andrew,  and  Simon, 
Philip  and  Nathanael,  found  in  the  Fourth  Gospel;* 
but  His  public  ministry  began  at  Capernaum,  on  His 
return  to  Galilee  after  His  baptism.  The  following 
are  some  of  the  facts  and  descriptions  to  which  refer- 
ence has  just  been  made;  no  attempt  is  made  to  fol- 
low a  chronological  order: 

"From  that  time  Jesus  began  to  preach"  (Matt, 
iv.  17);  "And  Jesus  went  about  all  Galilee,  teaching 
in  their  synagogues  and  preaching  the  Gospel" 
(iv.  23);  "And  seeing  the  multitudes,  He  went  up 
into  a  mountain:  and  when  He  was  set,  His  disciples 

*  John  i.  35-51. 


fa 


tn 

AN  INTRODUCTORY  VIEW.  7 

came  unto  Him :  and  He  opened  His  mouth  and  taught 
them"  (v.  1,  2);  "He  taught  them  as  one  having 
authority,  and  not  as  the  scribes"  (vii.  29);  "Jesus 
went  about  all  the  cities  and  villages,  teaching  in 
their  synagogues  and  preaching"  (ix.  35);  "When 
Jesus  had  made  an  end  of  commanding  His  twelve  dis- 
ciples, He  departed  thence  to  teach  and  to  preach  in 
their  cities"  (xi.  1);  "The  poor  have  the  Gospel 
preached  to  them"  (xi.  5);  "Coming  into  His  own 
country,  He  taught  them  in  their  synagogue" 
(xiii.  54) ;  "  When  He  was  come  into  the  temple,  the 
chief  priests  and  the  elders  of  the  people  came  unto 
Him  as  He  was  teaching  "  (xxi.  23) ;  "Jesus  said  to  the 
multitudes,  ...  I  sat  daily  with  you  teaching  in 
the  temple"  (xxvi.  55);  "On  the  Sabbath  day,  He 
entered  into  the  synagogue  and  taught "  (Mark  i.  21) ; 
"He  preached  in  their  synagogues  throughout  all 
Galilee"  (i.  39);  "He  went  forth  again  by  the  sea- 
side; and  all  the  multitude  resorted  unto  Him,  and  He 
taught  them  "  (ii.  13);  "And  He  began  again  to  teach 
by  the  seaside:  and  there  was  gathered  unto  Him  a 
great  multitude,  so  that  He  entered  into  a  ship,  and 
sat  in  the  sea;  and  the  whole  multitude  was  by  the  sea 
on  the  land.  And  He  taught  them  many  things  by  para- 
bles "  (iv.  1,  2);  "And  Jesus,  when  He  came  out,  saw 
much  people,  and  was  moved  with  compassion  toward 
them,  ....  and  He  began  to  teach  them  many 
things"  (vi.  34);  "  He  began  to  teach  them  [the  dis- 
ciples] that  the  Son  of  man  must  suffer"  (viii.  31); 
"He  taught  His  disciples"  (ix.  31);  "And  the  people 
resort  unto  Him  again ;  and,  as  He  was  wont,  He  taught 


8  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

them  again"  (x.  1);  "I  was  daily  with  you  in  the 
temple  teaching"  (xiv.  49);  "He  sat  down  and  taught 
the  people  out  of  the  ship  "  (Luke  v.  3)  ;  "  He  taught 
daily  in  the  temple  "  (xix.  47) ;  "One  of  those  days,  as 
He  taught  the  people  in  the  temple,  and  preached  the 
Gospel"  (xx..  1);  "And  in  the  daytime  He  was  teach- 
ing in  the  temple"  (xxi.  37);  "He  stirreth  up  the 
people,  teaching  throughout  all  Jewry,  beginning  from 
Galilee  to  this  place"  (xxiii.  5);  "Now  about  the 
midst  of  the  feast,  Jesus  went  up  into  the  temple  and 
taught"  (John  vii.  14);  "Then  Jesus  cried  in  the 
temple  as  He  taught,"  etc.  (vii.  28);  "Early  in  the 
morning  He  came  again  into  the  temple,  and  all  the 
people  came  unto  Him;  and  He  sat  down  and  taught 
them"  (viii.  2);  "I  spake  openly  to  the  world;  I  ever 
taught  in  the  synagogue,  and  in  the  temple,  whither 
the  Jews  always  resort;  and  in  secret  have  I  said 
nothing"  (xviii.  20). 

The  foregoing  are  perhaps  one-half  of  the  passages 
in  the  Gospels  in  which  Jesus  is  said  to  preach  and 
teach.  He  who  studies  them  in  their  connections  will 
see  that  they  describe  a  singularly  wide  and  active 
ministry.  Jesus  went  about  preaching  and  teaching 
in  synagogues;  He  sat  on  the  top  of  a  mountain  and 
taught ;  He  went  through  the  cities  and  villages  of  Gal- 
ilee, preaching;  He  taught  in  the  temple;  He  taught  as 
He  sat  in  a  boat  on  the  sea;  He  taught  His  disciples  pri- 
vately; He  taught  throughout  all  Judea  from  Galilee 
to  Jerusalem.  But  wide  and  active  as  these  passages 
prove  His  ministry  to  have  been,  they  fail  to  show  its 
full  extent.  Many  of  the  utterances  of  Jesus  are 


AN  INTRODUCTORY  VIEW.  9 

introduced  with  words  less  formal  than  the  words 
44 preach7'  and  "teach."  He  "spoke,"  He  <<~said," 
He  "answered,"  He  "asked,"  He  "showed,"  He 
"cried,"  etc.  A  large  share  of  His  teachings  was 
never  put  in  formal  discourses  at  all.  He  taught  in 
houses  as  well  as  in  synagogues ;  by  sick-beds  as  well 
as  in  the  temple;  He  appears  in  monologue  and  in 
dialogue;  He  teaches  small  companies;  He  teaches 
single  individuals.  If  we  limit  our  survey  to  public 
addresses  and  audiences  only,  we  shall  exclude  some 
of  His  most  admirable  instruction.  We  shall  find  no 
place  for  the  conversations  with  Nicodemus,  the 
woman  of  Samaria,  and  Mary  and  Martha.  Much 
time  was  given  to  preparing  His  disciples  for  their 
future  work.  We  find  Him  explaining  to  them  such 
of  His  public  lessons  as  they  did  not  understand.  A 
phrase  sometimes  points  to  a  lengthy  interview. 
Thus,  John  and  Andrew  heard  their  master  testify  of 
Jesus,  and  they  followed  Him.  His  invitation  to 
"come  and  see"  where  He  dwelt  led  them  to  the 
place,  and  they  staid  with  Him  the  remainder  of  the 
day.* 

We  must  not  omit  to  sketch  the  geographical  range 
of  this  ministry  of  teaching  and  preaching.  It  begins 
with  Capernaum,  in  Galilee.  From  Capernaum  Jesus 
goes  to  Cana  and  the  wedding  supper.  Then  He 
ascends  to  Jerusalem  and  to  the  temple.  He  attends  the 
passover,  and  holds  the  conversation  with  Nicodemus. 
His  visit  to  the  Holy  City  over,  He  goes  to  .ZEnon  near 
Salim,  the  theater  of  John's  labors;  there  we  listen  to 

*  John  i.  35-39. 


10  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

the  last  testimony  of  the  Baptist.  Returning  to  Gali- 
lee through  Samaria,  He  holds  the  remarkable  inter- 
view with  the  Samaritan  woman  at  Jacob's  well. 
Now  there  begins  a  much  larger  ministry  in  Galilee; 
Capernaum  becomes  a  center  of  labor  and  influence. 
The  embassy  from  John  is  received,  and  the  appro- 
priate reply  returned.  The  period  is  marked  by  His 
first  use  of  parables.  Again  He  goes  to  Jerusalem, 
and  is  found  by  the  pool  of  Bethesda.  Returning  to 
Galilee,  He  again  visits  the  towns  of  that  province;  we 
hear  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount;  it  is  the  time  of  the 
trial  mission  of  the  Apostles.  Next  He  journeys  to 
Csesarea  Philippi  and  Syro-Phcenicia,  and  comes  back 
to  Capernaum.  It  is  the  period  of  Peter's  confession. 
Jesus  now  goes  the  third  time  to  Jerusalem;  He 
attends  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles,  and  is  brought  into 
strenuous  collision  with  the  Sanhedrim.  He  returns 
to  Capernaum  for  the  last  time.  Almost  immediately 
He  goes  again  to  the  Capital,  traveling  through  Sama- 
ria; the  time  is  marked  by  the  mission  of  the  Seventy. 
After  the  Feast  of  Dedication,  He  goes  to  Bethabara-, 
beyond  Jordan,  where  He  blesses  the  little  children. 
He  is  called  away  to  Bethany  by  the  death  of  Lazarus. 
His  mission  here  performed,  he  spends  a  few  days  in 
the  wilderness  village  of  Ephraim,  a  little  north  of 
Jerusalem.  His  respite  from  labor  over,  He  journeys 
by  Jericho  and  Bethany  to  the  Capital,  that  He  may 
attend  the  Passover.  He  makes  His  triumphal  entry 
into  the  city,  and  closes  His  ministry  of  teaching  and 
preaching.  He  eats  His  last  Passover,  institutes  the 
Supper,  and  offers  His  intercessory  prayer.  Then  f ol- 


AN  INTRODUCTORY  VIEW.  11 

low  His  arrest  and  trial,  condemnation  and  death;  the 
Garden  of  Gethsemane,  the  Judgment  Hall,  and 
Mount  Calvary.* 

The  immediate  effects  of  His  ministry  were  most 
extraordinary.  Men  came  to  Jesus  singly,  and  in 
multitudes ;  they  sought  Him  out  in  His  retreat,  and 
in  public  places.  They  thronged  to  the  temple  and 
the  synagogue  to  hear  Him.  They  crossed  the  sea  in 
boats,  and  spent  whole  days  in  desert  places.  They 
stood  on  the  mountain-side,  and  on  the  seashore  while 
He  taught  them  out  of  the  ship.  Nicodemus,  the 
ruler,  came,  and  Mary  Magdalene;  Zaccheus,  and  the 
Syro-Phcenician  woman.  ''And  all  bare  him  witness, 
and  wondered  at  the  gracious  words  which  proceeded 
out  of  His  mouth"  (Luke  iv.  22).  Men  asked:  "From 
whence  hath  this  man  these  things?  And  what  wis- 
dom is  this  which  is  given  unto  Him?"  (Mark  vi.  2). 
"The  common  people  heard  Him  gladly"  (Mart 
xii.  37).  Even  the  Samaritans  "besought  Him  that  He 
would  tarry  with  them"  (John  iv.  40).  The  hearts 
of  the  disciples  going  to  Emmaus  burned  within  them 
as  He  talked  with  them  by  the  way  (Luke  xxiv.  32). 
When  John's  disciples  had  taken  up  the  body  of 
their  master  and  buried  it,  they  "went  and  told 
Jesus"  (Matt.  xiv.  12). 

One  fact  that  is  most  important  has  been  held  in 
the  background.  Jesus  taught  in  oral  words.  Only 
once  is  He  said  to  have  written  anything,  and  then 
upon  material  as  changing  as  the  sand.  He  stooped 

*  This  is  the  succession  of  events  as  given  by  Neander:  The  Life  of  Jesus 
Christ. 


12  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

down,  and  with  His  finger  wrote  on  the  ground.* 
He  was  the  greatest  of  the  great  oral  teachers  of  men 
— teachers  who  write  nothing,  but  depend  upon  what 
would  seem  to  be  the  most  transient  means  of 
influence.  Their  instrument  of  power  is  the  rod  of 
their  mouth,  the  breath  of  their  lips.  Nor  was  Jesus 
accompanied  by  any  scribe  or  reporter.  He  left 
behind  him  no  "autobiography"  or  "journal,"  but 
only  pictures  and  voices  in  the  hearts  of  men.  He 
spoke,  He  wept,  He  wrought,  He  kept  silent;  but  so 
powerfully  had  He  impressed  Himself  upon  His  disci- 
ples that  lengthy  discourses,  as  well  as  personal 
remarks  which  cling  closer  to  the  brain,  were  repro- 
duced, after  the  lapse  of  years,  in  a  way  to  prove 
their  own  genuineness.  He  contemplated  the  future 
with  a  sublime  confidence,  and  still  a  multitude  both 
of  words  and  deeds  never  became  matter  of  record. f 
fc  a  secondary,  as  well  as  in  a  primary,  sense  Jesus  is 
the  Sower  of  His  own  parable.  Some  seeds  fell  by  the 
wayside  and  were  caught  up  by  the  birds ;  some  fell 
among  the  thorns  and  were  choked;  some  fell  into 
thin  soil  and  were  burned  up  by  the  sun;  some  fell 
into  good  ground  and  were  reproduced  in  writing  by 
evangelist  and  apostle. 

Such  are  some  of  the  more  striking  external  aspects 
of  the  public  ministry  of  Jusus.  Again  it  may  be  said 
that  Ha  had  a  character  all  His  own.  In  so  saying,  no 
account  is  taken  of  the  matter  of  His  teaching. 
While  He  constantly  accommodated  Himself  to  His 

*  John  viii.  6.  t  John  xx.  30,  31;  xxi.  25. 


AN  INTRODUCTORY  VIEW.  13 

times,  He  was  as  unconventional  and  original  as 
Nature  herself.  We  catch  glimpses  of  Him  in  a  mul- 
titude of  teachers.  He  had  something  in  common 
with  the  Jewish  prophets,  and  with  John  the  Baptist. 
Socrates,  in  the  publicity  of  his  life,  in  the  elevation 
of  his  spirit,  and  in  the  familiarity  and  commonness 
of  his  teaching,  approaches  Him  much  more  nearly 
than  any  other  of  the  Greeks.  He  was  the  first 
teacher  and  preacher  of  the  Christian  Church,  but  no 
section  of  that  Church  has  preserved,  or  could  have 
preserved,  His  external  type.  He  is  not  more  unique 
in  His  subject-matter  than  in  the  forms  and  methods 
of  His  teaching. 

While  preaching  and  teaching  are  separate  and  dis- 
tinct, they  are  still  closely  related.  First,  in  respect 
to  matter.  The  preacher  announces  the  Gospel  with 
a  view  of  making  converts  or  disciples;  the  teacher 
instructs  or  builds  up  the  disciples  in  Christian  doc- 
trine or  discipline.  Secondly,  in  respect  to  method. 
Both  the  message  of  the  preacher  and  the  doctrine  of 
the  teacher  are  addressed  to  man's  mental  nature,  the 
main  difference,  from  a  pedagogical  point  of  view, 
being  that  the  message  appeals  more  directly  to  the 
active  or  motive  powers  of  the  mind.  Both  the 
preacher  and  the  teacher  strive  to  influence  conduct 
with  reference  to  the  same  great  end,  and  their  work 
cannot  be  wholly  separated.  The  modern  Church  has 
its  evangelists  and  pastors,  and  so  had  the  ancient 
Church.  Evangelist  and  pastor  differ  mainly  in  the 
placing  of  the  emphasis.  The  New  Testament  idea 
combines  the  two  elements  in  one  minister.  Jesus 
commanded  the  Twelve:  "Go  ye  therefore  and 


14  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

teach  all  nations,  baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the 
Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost: 
teaching  them  to  observe  all  things  whatsoever  I  have 
commanded  you:  and,  lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  even 
unto  the  end  of  the  world."  *  So  Paul  was  appointed 
a  preacher  and  a  teacher  of  the  Gentiles  in  faith  and 
love.  And  so  it  was  with  Jesus  Himself;  He  preached 
and  He  taught,  and  in  these  chapters  it  will  suffice  to 
permit  the  two  functions  to  flow  together. 

This  sketch,  all  too  faintly  drawn,  will  serve  as  an 
introduction  to  a  series  of  studies  of  Jesus  as  a 
Teacher. 

*  Matt,  xxviii.  20. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE   EDUCATION    OF   JESUS.       I. 

THE  two  main  qualifications  of  a  teacher,  pedagog- 
ically  considered,  are  native  aptitude  and  acquired 
preparation.  Perhaps  it  will  offend  the  sensibilities 
of  some  even  to  suggest  that  Jesus  possessed  the  sec- 
ond of  these  qualifications.  Their  habitual  view  of 
Him  may  repel  the  application  of  the  words  "train- 
ing," "education,"  "cultivation."  However  that 
may  be,  tests  that  apply  to  other  minds  apply  to  Him 
also ;  and  the  cause  of  religion  has  nothing  to  gain  but 
much  to  lose  by  seeking  to  withdraw  Him  from  com- 
petition with  other  teachers.  The  manner  in  which 
the  Evangelists  treat  His  childhood  forbids  such  a 
method.  Their  treatment  is  justly  considered  a  mark 
of  verisimilitude.  Even  their  silence  becomes  ex- 
pressive when  we  consider  what  writers  following 
their  own  fancies  would  have  said.  The  difference 
between  tjie  true  Gospels  and  the  false  ones,  in  this 
regard,  has  often  been  remarked  upon.  The  true 
contain  a  few  incidents  that  please  by  their  simple 
and  natural  beauty;  the  false  abound  in  those  that 
offend  by  their  grotesque  absurdity.  As  is  well 
known,  Luke  is  the  only  Evangelist  who  connects  the 
infancy  and  the  manhood  of  Jesus  by  even  so  much 
as  a  general  statement  or  characterization.  And  all 

LlBR^jN. 

TTNIVERSIT 


16  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

that  he  tells  us  is  contained  in  thirteen  verses  .* 
Moreover,  it  is  easy  to  read  into  these  verses  what 
was  never  in  the  mind  of  their  author.  The  words, 
"And  the  child  grew  and  waxed  strong  in  spirit,  filled 
with  wisdom,  and  the  grace  of  God  was  upon  Him," 
are  paralleled  by  the  account  given  of  John  the  Bap- 
tist, "And  the  child  grew  and  waxed  strong  in 
spirit."  f 

Neither  is  it  necessary  to  see  too  much  in  the  per- 
sonal incidents  connected  with  the  visit  to  Jerusalem. 
Twelve  was  an  important  age  under  the  Jewish  econ- 
omy. "It  was  the  age  at  which,"  says  Canon  Farrar, 
"according  to  Jewish  legend,  Moses  had  left  the 
house  of  Pharaoh's  daughter;  and  Samuel  had  heard 
the  voice  which  summoned  him  to  the  prophetic 
office;  that  Solomon  had  given  the  judgment  which 
first  revealed  his  possession  of  wisdom;  and  Josiah 
had  first  dreamed  of  his  great  reform."  J  Probably 
these  stories  were  myths,  generated  by  ideas  and 
images  current  among  the  Jews.  Oriental  children 
are  precocious;  both  the  climate  and  social  customs 
stimulate  early  development;  and  so  it  was  in  ancient 
times.  Jewish  education  bore  strongly  in  that  direc- 
tion. The  Jewish  boy  must  now  have  a  trade  for  his 
own  support;  his  parents  could  no  longer  sell  him  for 
a  slave;  he  was  no  longer  called  "little,"  but  "grown 
up,"  and  had  become  "a  son  of  the  law.  "  Boys  of 
twelve  or  thirteen  were  found  in  the  army,  and 
that  was  a  suitable  age  at  which  to  contract  a  mar- 
riage. It  must  therefore  have  been  a  time  to  which 

*  Chap.  ii.  40-52.        t  Chap.  i.  80. 

J  The  Life  of  Christ,  Vol.  I. ,  pp.  67,  68.     London. 


THE  EDUCATION  OF  JESUS.  17 

the  Jewish  boy  looked  forward  with  great  interest  and 
expectation,  and  that  could  not  fail  powerfully  to 
impress  his  mind.  Instances  of  extraordinary  pre- 
cocity are  met  with  all  through  the  Jewish  history; 
their  appearance  was  welcome,  for  the  Rabbis,  with 
all  their  faults,  welcomed  wisdom  in  the  child.  The 
conduct  of  Jesus  does  not  appear  to  have  struck  the 
doctors  as  remarkable  in  itself ;  it  was  the  character 
of  His  understanding  and  answers  that  filled  them 
and  the  bystanders  with  astonishment.  Josephus 
speaks  of  his  own  early  great  memory  and  under- 
standing. "Moreover,  when  I  was  a  child,"  he  says, 
"and  about  fourteen  years  of  age,  1  was  commended 
by  all  for  the  love  I  had  to  learning;  on  which  ac- 
count the  high  priests  and  principal  men  of  the  city 
came  then  frequently  to  me  together,  in  order  to  know 
my  opinion  about  the  accurate  understanding  of 
points  of  the  Law."*  When  we  dwell  upon  such 
facts  as  these ;  when  we  add  to  them  other  facts  in 
regard  to  the  course  and  nature  of  Jewish  education ; 
when  we  consider  the  character  of  Jesus's  own  train- 
ing, and  reflect  that  the  visit  to  Jerusalem,  occurring 
at  this  time,  could  not  fail  deeply  to  impress  Him, — 
we  shall  see  that  His  tarrying  behind  in  Jerusalem, 
and  His  seeking  out  the  doctors,  while  extremely  in- 
teresting and  suggestive  events,  are  not  such  surpris- 
ing facts  as  many  make  them.  Undoubtedly,  the 
most  prescient  incident  was  His  reply  to  His  mother, 
"Wist  ye  not  that  I  must  be  about  my  Father's  busi- 
ness?" but  even  its  significance  may  be  exaggerated. 
Strongly  prophetic  sayings  are  heard  in  the  mouths  of 

*  Life,  V. 


18  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

children  not  unfrequently.  Certainly,  differ  as  any 
one  may  from  the  trend  of  these  remarks,  he  must 
admit  that  the  Jerusalem  story  derives  its  principal 
interest  from  the  whole  life  of  which  it  is  a  part,  and 
that  it  affords  no  reason  why  we  should  not  as  freely 
inquire  what  influence  formed  the  character  of  the 
Christ-child  as  the  character  of  other  children. 

There  are  two  relations  under  which  education  may 
be  regarded.  One  is  its  relation  to  nature  and  life, 
the  other  to  the  schools.  One  is  general  and  one 
specific,  and  each  has  its  own  interest.  We  shall  look 
at  the  education  of  Jesus  from  both  of  these  points 
of  view. 

What  the  mind  is  no  one  has  been  able  to  tell  us ; 
we  know  only  its  manifestations  or  phenomena,  and 
some  of  its  laws.  We  know  that  it  is  self-active,  that 
its  activity  leads  to  expansion  or  growth,  and  that  this 
expansion  is  education.  But  the  mind  can  act  only  as 
it  acts  upon  something,  and  so  its  growth  depends 
upon  its  being  brought  into  relation  with  some  object 
or  objects.  All  our  knowledge,  feeling,  and  will  flow 
directly  or  indirectly  from  the  establishment  of  con- 
tact between  the  self-active  principle  and  external 
nature,  the  facts  of  human  life,  and,  reflexively,  the 
mind  itself.  The  cultivation  of  the  race  dates  from 
these  points  of  contact,  and  so  does  the  cultivation  of 
every  individual  that  is  born  into  the  world.  Not 
only  is  education  older  than  the  school  historically, 
fmt  it  is  essential  to  its  existence  practically.  Then  as 
soon  as  men  began  to  observe,  to  think,  and  to  ac- 
cumulate experience,  there  began  the  development  of 
tradition — a  transmitted  body  of  experience  that  soon 


THE  EDUCATION  OF  JESUS.  19 

came  to  be,  and  that  has  always  continued  to  be,  a 
powerful,  though  a  secondary,  source  of  education. 
Thus  nature,  society,  life,  and  the  mind  itself  are  the 
primordial  sources  of  human  training.  Tradition 
comes  later,  and  literature  last  of  all. 

It  is  well  understood  that  natural  'factors — climate, 
soil,  and  particularly  the  external  aspects  of  the 
world — exert  a  great  influence  upon  our  life,  charac- 
ter, and  destiny.  "Our  earliest  impressions  of  the 
external  world,"  it  has  been  said,  "become,  uncon- 
sciously to  us,  the  prism  by  which  everything  is  after- 
wards colored."  In  a  great  degree  individuals  and 
races  are  fashioned  by  natural  factors.  Nowhere  is 
this  more  observable  than  in  the  Orient;  the  repose, 
conservatism,  meditative  or  reflective  habit,  and  po- 
etic-ethical communion  with  Nature  that  are  so  char- 
acteristic of  Oriental  life,  are  no  doubt  ultimately 
traceable  to  natural  causes.  More  narrowly,  the 
human  spirit,  working  under  the  conditions  which 
Nature  imposed,  created  the  fundamental  elements  of 
that  civilization  which  forms  the  background  of  the 
history  of  the  Chosen  People.  Still  more  narrowly, 
these  conditions  were  potent  forces  in  the  history  of 
the  Chosen  People  itself.  Renan  gives  us  this  picture 
of  the  situation  of  Nazareth: 

The  horizon  of  the  town  is  limited,  but  if  we  ascend  a  little 
to  the  plateau  swept  by  a  perpetual  breeze ,  which  commands  the 
highest  houses,  the  prospect  is  splendid.  To  the  west  are  un- 
folded the  beautiful  lines  of  Carmel ,  terminating  in  an  abrupt 
point  which  seems  to  plunge  into  the  sea.  Then  stretch  away 
the  double  summit  which  looks  down  upon  Megiddo,  the  moun- 
tains of  the  country  of  Shechem  with  their  holy  places  of  the 
patriarchal  age ,  the  mountains  of  Gilboa,  the  picturesque  little 


20  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

group  with  which  are  associated  the  graceful  and  terrible  mem  - 
oriesof  Solam  and  of  Endor,  and  Thabor  with  its  finely -rounded 
form,  which  antiquity  compared  to  a  breast.  Through  a  de- 
pression between  the  mountains  of  Solam  and  Thabor  are  seen 
the  valley  of  the  Jordan  and  the  high  plains  of  Peraea,  which 
form  a  continuous  line  in  the  east.  To  the  north,  the  moun- 
tains of  Safed,  sloping  toward  the  sea,  hide  St.  Jean  d'Acre, 
but  disclose  the  Gulf  of  Khaifa.  Such  was  the  horizon  of 
Jesus.  This  enchanted  circle,  the  cradle  of  the  kingdom  of 
God,  represented  the  world  to  Him  for  years.  His  life  even 
went  little  beyond  the  limits  familiar  to  His  childhood.  For, 
beyond,  to  the  north,  you  almost  see  upon  the  slopes  of  Her- 
mon,  Cesarea  Philippi ,  His  most  advanced  point  into  the  Gentile 
world,  and  to  the  south,  you  feel  behind  these  already  less 
cheerful  mountains  of  Samaria,  sad  Judea,  withered  as  by  a 
burning  blast  of  abstraction  and  of  death.  *  % 

Also  this  one  of  the  group  of  companions  that 
Jesus  first  called  about  Him : 

The  beautiful  climate  of  Galilee  made  the  existence  of  these 
honest  fishermen  a  perpetual  enchantment.  They  prefigured 
truly  the  kingdom  of  God,  simple,  good,  happy,  rocked  gently 
upon  their  delightful  little  sea,  or  sleeping  at  night  upon  its 
shores.  We  cannot  conceive  the  intoxication  of  a  life  which 
thus  glides  away  in  the  presence  of  the  heavens,  the  glow,  mild, 
yet  strong,  which  this  perpetual  contact  with  nature  gives,  the 
dreams  of  these  nights  passed  amid  the  brilliancy  of  the  stars, 
beneath  the  azure  dome  of  the  illimitable  depths.  It  was  during 
such  anight  that  Jacob,  his  head  pillowed  upon  a  stone,  saw  in 
the  stars  the  promise  of  an  innumerable  posterity,  and  the  mys- 
terious ladder  by  which  the  Elohim  came  and  went  from  heaven 
to  earth.  In  the  time  of  Jesus  the  heavens  were  not  yet  closed, 
nor  had  the  earth  grown  cold,  f 

But  this  is  not  all.  Wherever  men  live  in  imme- 
diate contact  with  nature,  they  also  live  in  immediate 
contact  with  one  another.  Renan  thus  felicitously 

*  Life  of  Jesus,  Chap.  ii.       t  Ibid,  Chap.  iii. 


THE  EDUCATION  OF  JESUS.  21 

marks  one  difference  between  Eastern  and  Western 
life: 

The  education  of  the  schools  marks  among  us  a  wide  distinc- 
tion, in  the  relation  of  personal  worth,  between  those  who  have 
received  it  and  those  who  have  been  deprived  of  it.  It  was  not 
thus  in  the  East,  nor  generally  in  the  good  old  ages.  The  crude 
condition  in  which,  among  us,  in  consequence  of  our  isolated 
and  entirely  individual  life,  he  remains  who  has  not  been  to  the 
schools,  is  unknown  in  these  forms  of  society  where  moral  cul- 
ture, and  especially  the  general  spirit  of  the  time,  are  trans- 
mitted by  perpetual  contact  with  men.  The  Arab  who  has  had 
no  schoolmaster  is  often  highly  distinguished  nevertheless ;  for 
the  tent  is  a  kind  of  school  always  open,  where  the  meeting  of 
well-bred  people  gives  birth  to  a  great  intellectual  and  even  lit- 
erary movement.  Delicacy  of  manners  and  acuteness  of  mind 
have  nothing  in  common  in  the  East  with  what  we  call  educa- 
tion. On  the  contrary,  the  schoolmen  are  considered  pedantic 
and  ill-bred.  In  this  state  of  society,  ignorance,  which  among 
us  condemns  a  man  to  an  inferior  rank,  is  the  condition  of  great 
deeds  and  of  great  originality.  * 

The  East  seems  to  lend  itself  with  peculiar  ease  and 
effect  to  the  ends  of  the  ethical  and  religious  teacher. 
Markedly  was  this  the  case  with  Palestine  in  the  days 
of  Jesus.  It  was  the  land  of  proverbs,  psalms,  and 
parables.  It  had  long  been  touched  with  the  beauty 
of  poetry.  Although  an  old  country,  its  civilization 
was  yet  primitive  in  many  of  its  features.  Its  cara- 
vans and  tabernacles,  its  flocks  and  vintages,  its 
threshing-floors  and  wine-presses,  its  very  geography 
and  history,  idealized  by  prophet  and  psalm-writer, 
furnished  an  abundant  stock  of  striking  and  beautiful 
images.  Nay,  those  objects  are  there  to-day  to  explain 
the  constant  allusions  to  them  in  both  the  Testaments. 
Its  air  of  repose,  so  well  adapted  to  serious  contem- 

*  Life  of  Jesus,  Chap.  x. 


22  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

plation,  is  strikingly  different  from  the  busy  energy  of 
the  West.  It  is  the  land  of  strong  contrasts  and 
striking  effects.  According  to  Renan,  the  inequality 
of  men  is  more  marked  than  in  the  West.  He  says 
that  even  to  this  day  "  it  is  not  rare  to  see  rising  there, 
in  the  midst  of  an  atmosphere  of  general  wickedness, 
characters  whose  grandeur  astonishes  us."  We  look 
at  the  figure  of  Jesus  through  the  vista  of  eighteen 
centuries.  The  time  and  country  in  which  He  lived, 
and  the  whole  of  Jewish  antiquity,  furnish  a  most 
impressive  background  to  the  picture.  No  one  can 
doubt  that  the  whole  effect  is  in  some  degree  due 
to  the  admirable  setting.  The  Gospels  were  written 
by  plain  men ;  the  only  trace  of  literary  art  is  its  total 
absence ;  but  no  man  of  real  feeling  can  read  even  the 
plainest  of  these  compositions  without  deep  emotion. 
We  cannot  think  of  the  story  of  Jesus  as  having  been 
written  in  the  speech  of  the  scientific  and  commercial 
West,  without  a  loss  of  both  power  and  beauty. 

It  may  be  added  that,  aside  from  districts  like 
Judea,  life  in  Palestine  was  free  and  unconventional. 
This  was  particularly  the  case  in  Galilee.  Rabbinical 
influence  was  slight  in  Nazareth.  Joseph  and  Mary 
belonged  to  the  common  people.  They  were  poor. 
Joseph  was  a  carpenter.  Jesus  Himself  was  a  carpen- 
ter. Thus  He  dignified  and  ennobled  honest  toil. 
But  His  station  and  occupation  in  life  did  not  cut 
Him  off  from  the  great  influences  that  in  the  East 
form  character.  He  must  be  blind  indeed  who  does 
not  see  in  the  Gospels  abundant  traces  of  the  effects 
upon  Him  of  both  the  natural  and  social  factors  that 
made  up  His  environment.  The  natural  scenery  and 


THE  EDUCATION  OF  JESUS.  23 

the  social  life  that  He  saw  about  Him  are  woven,  not 
merely  into  the  form,  but  also  into  the  texture  of  His 
teaching.  Evidence  of  His  intimate  relations  with 
the  natural  world,  and  of  His  humble  estate,  are 
found  in  greatest  abundance.  The  Divine  mind,  the 
human  heart,  and  nature,  are  closely  united.  One 
proof  of  this  is  the  fact  that  the  Teacher  who  has 
best  expounded  the  first,  has  also  best  met  the  needs 
of  the  second,  and  made  the  best  ethical  use  of  the 
third. 

NOTE. — Reference  has  been  made  above  to  the  permanency  of 
Oriental  life,  and  to  the  idealization,  or  symbolic  use,  of  its  his- 
tory and  geography.  Few  Christians  stop  to  think  how  largely 
their  spiritual  vocabulary  is  drawn  from  these  sources.  I  quote 
two  paragraphs  from  Dean  Stanley  that  well  illustrate  these 
thoughts. 

In  one  respect  the  site  and  description  of  Eastern  countries 
lends  itself  more  than  that  of  any  other  country  to  this  use  of 
historical  geography.  Doubtless  there  are  many  alterations, 
so  me  of  considerable  importance,  in  the  vegetation,  the  climate, 
the  general  aspect  of  these  countries,  since  the  days  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testament.  .  But,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  one  of  the 
great  charms  of  Eastern  traveling,  that  the  framework  of  life, 
of  customs,  of  manners,  even  of  dress  and  speech,  is  still  sub- 
stantially the  same  as  it  was  ages  ago :  Something,  of  course, 
in  representing  the  scenes  of  The  New  Testament,  must  be 
sought  from  Roman  and  Grecian  usages  now  extinct ;  but  the 
Bedouin  tents  are  still  the  faithful  reproduction  of  the  outward 
life  of  the  patriarchs — the  vineyards ,  the  cornfields ,  the  houses , 
the  wells  of  Syria  still  retain  the  outward  imagery  of  the  teach- 
ing of  Christ  and  the  Apostles ;  and  thus  the  traveler '  s  mere 
passing  glances  at  Oriental  customs,  much  more  the  de- 
tailed accounts  of  Lane  and  of  Burckhardt,  contain  a  mine  of 
scriptural  illustration  which  it  is  an  unworthy  superstition 
either  to  despise  or  to  fear. 

Finally,  there  is  an  interest  attaching  to  sacred  geography 
hard  to  be  expressed  in  words,  but  which  cannot  be  altogether 
overlooked,  and  is  brought  home  with  especial  force  to  the  East- 
ern traveler.  It  has  been  well  observed  that  the  poetical  events 
of  the  Sacred  History,  so  far  from  being  an  argument  against 
its  Divine  origin,  are  striking  proofs  of  that  universal  Provi- 


24  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

dence  by  which  the  religion  of  The  Bible  was  adopted  to  suit, 
not  one  class  of  mind  only,  but  many,  in  every  age  of  time. 
As  with  the  history,  so  also  is  it  with  the  geography.  Not  only 
has  the  long  course  of  ages  invested  the  prospects  and  scenes  of 
the  Holy  Land  with  poetical  and  moral  associations ,  but  these 
scenes  lend  themselves  to  such  parabolical  adaptation  with  sin- 
gular facility.  Far  more  closely  as  in  some  respects  the  Greek 
and  Italian  geography  intertwines  itself  with  the  history  and 
religion  of  the  two  countries;  yet,  when  we  take  the  proverbs , 
the  apologues,  the  types  furnished  even  by  Parnassus  and  Heli- 
con, the  Capitol  and  the  Rubicon,  they  bear  no  comparison 
with  the  appropriateness  of  the  corresponding  figures  and 
phrases  borrowed  from  Arabian  and  Syrian  topography,  even 
irrespectively  of  the  wider  diffusion  given  them  by  our  greater 
familiarity  with  the  Scriptures.  The  passage  of  the  Red  Sea — 
the  '  'wilderness'7  of  life— the  "Rock  of  Ages"— Mount  Sinai  and 
its  terrors — the  view  from  Pisgah — the  passage  of  the  Jordan — 
the  rock  of  Zion,  and  the  fountain  of  Siloa — the  lake  of  Gennes- 
areth,  with  its  storms,  its  waves,  and  its  fishermen,  are  well 
known  instances  in  which  the  local  features  of  the  Holy  Land 
have  naturally  become  the  household  imagery  of  Christendom.  — 
Sinai  and  Palestine,  pp.  2 


CHAPTER    III. 

THE   EDUCATION   OF   JESUS.       II. 

EDUCATION  suggests  to  most  minds  a  school,  and  we 
are  only  too  apt  to  forget  that  there  is  an  older,  a 
more  comprehensive,  and  a  more  valuable  culture. 
The  human  spirit  first  took  hold  of  the  natural  world, 
then  of  the  facts  of  human  life,  and  last  of  all  of  itself. 
Tradition  dates  from  the  dawn  of  human  experience; 
letters  and  literature  came  much  later;  and  it  is  prob- 
able that  the  school  came  later  still.  "  The  House  of 
the  Book"  is  the  appropriate  name  that  the  Jews 
gave  to  the  school.  We  are  now  to  see  what  the 
school  did  for  Jesus.  Still  we  cannot  separate  the 
school  from  the  family  and  the  synagogue. 

The  effect  of  politics,  religion,  and  social  institu- 
tions upon  schools  and  education  is  very  great.  That 
the  Roman  government  was  one  of  written  laws, 
courts,  and  records;  that  there  was  a  regular  census 
and  various  colleges,  priests,  and  magistrates;  that 
much  stress  therefore  attached  to  writing,  documents, 
and  archives, — these  are  facts  which  strongly  influ- 
enced education  at  Rome.  The  Jews  furnish  a  still 
more  striking  example.  Their  national  history  began 
in  1491  B.  C.  (according  to  Usher's  chronology)  at 
Sinai.  Then  and  there  the  Law  of  Moses  was  given, 

(25) 


26  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

one  of  the  most  comprehensive,  powerful,  and  per- 
manent bodies  of  legislation  ever  enacted.  It  was  a 
political,  civil,  religious,  and  domestic  code  all  in  one. 
It  was  definite  and  absolute,  and  was  enforced  by  the 
strongest  sanctions.  It  regulated  the  whole  life  of 
the  Jew — his  house,  dress,  food,  employments,  domes- 
tic arrangements,  the  distribution  of  his  property, 
politics,  and  civil  and  religious  life.  Furthermore — 
and  the  significance  of  this  fact  cannot  well  be  exag- 
gerated— the  Law  was  from  the  first  reduced  to  writ- 
ing. It  is  noteworthy  that  writing,  books,  and  read- 
ing are  first  met  with  in  The  Bible  in  connection  with 
the  giving  of  the  Law  and  the  events  immediately 
leading  to  it.*  The  material  upon  which  the  Deca- 
logue was  written  fitly  symbolizes  the  enduring  char- 
acter of  its  substance,  and  of  the  whole  legislation  of 
which  it  is  a  part.  Goethe  has  fitly  said  that  the 
Hebrew  race  is  the  strongest,  the  most  steadfast,  the 
most  persistent  race ;  t  and  the  causes  are  found,  not 
so  much  in  its  original  qualities,  as  in  the  character  of 
its  legislation  and  the  course  of  its  history.  The  legal 
discipline  of  the  nation  was  enforced  by  the  most 
powerful  agencies. 

1.  It  was  enjoined  upon  parents  in  the  most  im- 
pressive manner  that  they  should  teach  the  history, 
the  precepts,  and  the  ordinances  of  the  Law  to  their 
children.     Thus  the  national  history  and  institutions 
became  a  part  of  domestic  discipline.! 

2.  Domestic  discipline  was  re-enforced  by  ecclesi- 
astical discipline.     Moses   made  the  Jewish  priest  a 

*Exod.  xvii.  14;  xxiv.  4-7. 

t  Wilhelm  Meister,  Chap.  Ix. 

1  Exod.  xii.  25-28;  Deut.  vi.  5-15;  20-25. 


THE  EDUCATION  OF  JESUS.  27 

teacher.  The  holy  order  instructed  the  people,  not 
only  in  the  details  of  the  temple  service  and  in  cere- 
monial casuistry,  but  also  to  some  extent  in  the  Law 
itself.* 

3.  The  kings  of  a  religious  turn  enjoined  the  teach- 
ing of  the  Law  to  the  people,  and  took  measures  to 
have  their  directions  carried  out.f 

4.  The  prophets  dwelt  upon  the  teaching  of  the 
Law,  as   well   as  spiritualized   it  and   delivered  new 
revelations. 

These  were  the  educational  agencies  that  worked 
previous  to  the  carrying  away  to  Babylon.  The  Baby- 
lonian exile  wrought  a  great  transformation  in  Israel. 
"  During  the  seventy  years  of  captivity  on  the  banks 
of  the  Euphrates,"  it  has  been  said,  "a  profound 
change  occurred  in  the  character  of  the  Hebrew 
nation.  Prophecy  had  ceased.  The  priest  had  lost 
all  his  authority.  The  man  of  importance  henceforth, 
the  man  who  is  heard  and  obeyed  with  respect,  is  the 
scribe,  the  man  of  the  book,  the  scholar,  who  knows 
the  ancestral  records,  and  can  teach  the  principles  of 
the  Law,  the  violation  of  which  had  brought  upon  the 
nation  such  great  trials."  Ezra  led  the  exiles  back  to 
the  fatherland;  he  brought  forth  the  book  of  the 
Law  and  read  it  to  the  people ;  but  Ezra  stands  for 
the  beginning  of  the  new  order  of  things,  rather  than 
the  restoration  of  the  old  order.  That  system  of 
instruction,  discipline,  and  worship  the  various  phases 
of  which  are  represented  by  the  words  "scribe," 
"rabbi,"  "rabbinism,"  "doctor,"  "teacher,"  "  eld- 

*  Deut.  xxi.5;  xvii.  8-13,  18;  xxxi.  10-13. 

t  2  Kings  xxii.  8-14;  2  Chron.  xvii.  7-9;  Neh.  viii.  1-8. 


28  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

er,"  "reader,"  "lawyer,"  "tradition,''  "synagogue," 
"  sanhedrim,"  and  "Talmud,"  dates  from  the  time  of 
Ezra.  To  describe  this  system  would  lead  us  too  far 
from  our  path ;  but  we  must  not  fail  to  observe  that 
the  new  organization  made  Judaism,  as  a  system, 
firmer  and  stronger  than  it  had  ever  been  before; 
that  in  time  it  included  a  cycle  of  schools  coextensive 
with  the  nation,  and  that  it  exalted  the  teacher.  First 
came  the  school  or  the  college  of  the  Law  connected 
with  the  synagogue;  afterwards  the  school  consid- 
ered as  "The  House  of  the  Book."  The  new  system, 
superinduced  upon  the  old  one,  constituted  the  most 
efficient  organization  of  human  training  that  the  world 
has  ever  seen.  Looking  merely  to  strength  and  per- 
manency of  results,  better  educational  material  than 
lay  at  the  hand  of  the  Jewish  teachers  can  neither  be 
found  nor  imagined.  The  Law  was  clear  and  positive, 
admirably  adapted  to  cut  deeply  into  the  memory. 
The  national  history  stimulated  and  energized  the 
mind  and  molded  the  life  to  the  highest  possible 
pitch.  Considered  as  instruction,  the  Jewish  system 
strongly  appealed  to  every  faculty  of  the  soul  at  every 
stage  of  its  development.  Its  impressive  ordinances 
did  their  work  long  before  the  words  of  the  Law 
could  be  understood,  or  the  inspiration  that  the  his- 
tory breathed  could  be  received. 

Jewish  education  began  with  the  mother.  What 
the  true  Jewish  mother,  considered  as  a  teacher,  was, 
we  know  from  both  the  Testaments  and  from  many 
other  sources.  The  very  household  duties  that  she 
performed  molded  her  children  in  accordance  with 


THE  EDUCATION  OF  JESUS.  29 

the  national  discipline.  "The  Sabbath  meal,  the 
kindling  of  the  Sabbath  lamp,  and  the  setting  apart 
of  a  portion  of  the  dough  from  the  bread  for  the 
household — these  are  but  instances  with  which  every 
*  Taph,'  as  he  clung  to  his  mother's  skirts,,  must  have 
been  familiar."  The  bit  of  parchment  fastened  to 
the  door  post,  on  which  the  name  of  the  Most  High 
was  written,  and  which  was  reverently  touched  by 
those  who  came  and  went  with  fingers  that  were  then 
borne  to  the  lips,  would  be  among  the  first  things  to 
arrest  his  attention.  Long  before  the  child  could  go 
to  school  or  synagogue,  the  private  and  united  prayers 
and  the  domestic  rites,  whether  of  the  weekly  Sab- 
bath or  of  festive  seasons,  would  indelibly  impress 
themselves  upon  his  mind.  In  mid-winter  there  was 
the  festive  illumination  in  each  home,  with  its  sym- 
bolic meaning.  Then  there  was  the  cycle  of  public 
feasts  and  fasts,  most  of  which  lay  within  the  obser- 
vation of  the  child :  The  Feast  of  Esther,  the  Pass- 
over, the  Feast  of  Weeks,  the  Feast  of  the  New  Year, 
the  Day  of  Atonement,  and  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles. 
These  early  sense-elements  of  education  associated 
themselves  with  the  mother.  More  than  this,  it  was 
in  the  school  of  the  mother's  knee  that  the  stories 
of  patriarchs  and  prophets,  of  statesmen  and  war- 
riors, of  poets  and  sages,  of  kings  and  judges,  wise  men 
and  patriots,  and  of  the  great  Lawgiver  himself — the 
whole  forming  the  very  best  body  of  material  for  the 
purposes  of  child-nurture  found  in  any  language — were 
told  and  retold  until  they  became  parts  of  the  mind 
itself.  It  was  not  strange,  but  quite  the  contrary, 
that  Timothy,  although  the  son  of  a  Gentile  and  liv- 


30  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

ing  at  a  distance  from  any  school  or  synagogue,  should 
have  thoroughly  known  the*  Holy  Scriptures  from  his 
infancy.  As  teachers  of  their  children,  the  women  of 
every  country  may  learn  lessons  from  the  matrons  of 
Israel. 

Still  it  was  the  father  who  was  bound  to  teach  his 
son.  To  impart  to  the  child  the  knowledge  of  the 
Law  was  as  great  a  spiritual  distinction  as  to  have 
received  it  from  Moses  could  have  been.  To  this 
paramount  duty  all  engagements  must  give  way.  As 
soon  as  the  child  could  speak  his  religious  education 
began.  First  came  verses  of  Scripture  that  made  up 
the  Shema,  or  the  creed;  next  came  other  passages 
from  the  same  source,  short  prayers,  selected  sayings, 
and  psalms.  He  was  early  taught  his  birthday  text — 
some  verse  beginning  with,  ending  with,  or  at  least 
containing  the  letters  of  his  Hebrew  name.  Like  all 
the  Orientals,  the  ancient  Jews  paid  the  greatest 
attention  to  the  cultivation  of  the  memory.  Forget- 
fulness  was  as  reprehensible  as  ignorance.  Large 
portions  of  the  Scriptures  were  cast  in  the  forms 
most  likely  to  be  remembered,  as  rhythm  and  prov- 
erb. The  words  of  the  wise — that  is,  the  true  wisdom 
teaching,  the  gnome,  or  the  maxim — are  like  nails 
fastened  by  masters  of  assemblies,  as  well  as  like 
goads. 

The  child  was  sent  to  school  at  the  age  of  five  or 
six  years.  His  regular  education  now  began.  From 
the  teaching  of  the  alphabet,  or  of  writing  in  the  pri- 
mary school,  to  the  farthest  limit  of  instruction  in 
the  academies  of  the  Rabbis,  all  was  marked  by* 
extreme  care,  wisdom,  accuracy,  and  moral  and  relig- 


THE  EDUCATION  OF  JESUS.  31 

ious  purpose  as  the  ultimate  object.  The  children 
were  gathered  for  instruction  in  the  synagogues  and 
school-houses,  where  the  teacher,  generally  the  Chaz- 
zan,  or  officer  of  the  synagogue,  "imparted  to  them 
the  precious  knowledge  of  the  Law,  with  constant 
adaptation  to  their  capacity,  with  unwearied  patience, 
intense  earnestness,  strictness  tempered  by  kindness, 
but,  above  all,  with  the  highest  object  of  their  train- 
ing ever  in  view.  To  keep  children  from  all  contact 
with  vice ;  to  train  them  to  gentleness,  even  when  bit- 
terest wrong  had  been  received;  to  show  sin  in  its 
repulsiveness,  rather  than  to  terrify  by  its  conse- 
quences ;  to  train  to  strict  truthfulness ;  to  avoid  all 
that  might  lead  to  disagreeable  or  indelicate  thoughts; 
and  to  do  all  this  without  showing  partiality,  without 
either  undue  severity  or  laxity  of  discipline,  with 
judicious  increase  of  study  and  work,  with  careful 
attention  to  thoroughness  in  acquiring  knowledge — all 
this  and  more  constituted  the  ideal  set  before  the 
teacher,  and  made  his  office  of  such  high  esteem  in 
Israel."  The  Rabbis  often  gathered  their  disciples 
about  them  in  the  open  air,  in  the  fields  and  groves ; 
as,  indeed,  Oriental  teachers  are  in  the  habit  of  doing 
to  this  day. 

Up  to  ten  years  of  age  The  Bible  was  the  sole  text- 
book; from  ten  to  fifteen  tha  Mischna,  or  traditional 
law,  was  used ;  and  after  that  the  pupil  was  admitted 
to  the  discussions  of  the  Rabbinical  schools.  So 
extensive  a  course  of  study,  however,  was  taken  only 
by  those  who  showed  decided  aptitude  for  learning. 
Bible  study  began  with  the  Book  of  Leviticus ;  then 
came  other  parts  of  the  Pentateuch ;  next  the  Proph- 


32  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

ets,  and  finally  the  Hagiography.  The  Talmud  was 
taught  only  in  the  higher  schools. 

Jewish  education  was  conducted  on  what  is  now 
called  the  intensive  plan.  The  home,  the  school,  and 
the  synagogue  reinforced  one  another.  The  public 
services  of  religion — the  readings,  prayers,  recita- 
tions, psalms,  and  sermons  of  the  synagogue — deep- 
ened the  channel  that  was  made  by  the  teacher's 
efforts.  The  Scriptures,  owing  to  their  cost,  could 
not  be  found  in  the  homes  of  the  middle  classes  and 
the  poor;  but  a  copy  belonged  to  every  school  and 
synagogue.  To  preserve  the  integrity  of  the  text, 
copies  of  portions  of  the  Holy  Books  were  deemed 
unlawful;  but  exceptions  were  made  of  certain  sec- 
tions that  were  expressly  used  in  the  teaching  of  chil- 
dren. The  history  of  the  period  from  the  creation 
to  the  flood,  Leviticus  i.-ix.,  and  Numbers  i.-x.  are 
especially  mentioned.  * 

The  mechanical  arrangements  of  the  synagogue,  as 
well  as  of  the  worship,  were  well  calculated  to 
impress  the  mind  of  an  Oriental.  The  lowest  of  the 
officers  of  the  synagogue  was  the  Ghazzan,  or  minis- 
ter, who  sometimes  acted  also  as  schoolmaster.  Then 
there  were  the  elders,  or  rulers  of  the  synagogue,  with 
their  Archi-synagogos,  or  chief,  forming  a  local  coun- 
cil or  sanhedrim.  The  chief  ruler  superintended  the 
service,  choosing  those  who  participated.  To  these 
regular  officials  we  have  to  add  those  who  officiated 
during  the  service,  the  Schdiach,  Tsibbur,  or  dele- 

*  The  above  account  of  Jewish  education  is  drawn  mainly  from  Eder- 
sheim:  The  Life  and  Times  of  Jesus  the  Messiah,  Book  II. ,  Chapter  ix.  See 
also  the  same  writer's  Sketches  of  Jewish  Social  Life  in  the  Days  of  Christ. 
Chaps,  vii.,  viii. 


THE  EDUCATION  OF  JESUS.  33 

gate  of  a  congregation,  who,  as  its  mouthpiece,  con- 
ducted the  devotions;  the  interpreter,  or  Methurge- 
man,  and  those  who  were  called  on  to  read  in  the  Law 
and  the  Prophets,  as  also  to  preach.  It  was  as 
Schdiach  (Tsibbur)  that  Jesus  acted  at  Nazareth,  as 
related  in  Luke  iv.  At  the  opening,  the  /Scheliach 
ascended  to  the  reading  desk  that  stood  on  the  bema, 
and  first  uttered  two  prayers.  Then  followed  the 
recitation  of  the  /Shema,  or  creed,  from  Sherrta, 
"peon,"  with  which  it  began.  Then  came  another 
prayer  from  the  desk,  followed  by  the  eulogies  or 
benedictions,  the  one  who  officiated  standing  before 
the  ark.  Next  came  prayers  especially  suited  to  the 
day,  followed  by  a  second  group  of  eulogies.  Then 
the  priests,  if  any  were  present,  spoke  the  blessing, 
elevating  their  hands  to  their  shoulders ;  if  no  priests 
were  present,  the  leader  repeated  the  benediction. 
Next  ensued  the  final  eulogy,  followed  sometimes  by 
still  other  prayers,  fixed  or  free.  The  liturgical  part 
of  the  service  over,  the  minister  brought  forth  a  roll 
of  the  Law  from  the  ark.  On  the  Sabbath  at  least 
seven  persons  read  portions  of  the  Law,  none  less 
than  three  verses.  After  the  Law  followed  a  section 
from  the  Prophets.  "As  the  Hebrew  was  not  gener- 
ally understood,  the  Methurgeman,  or  interpreter, 
stood  by  the  side  of  the  reader,  and  translated  into 
the  Aramaean  verse  by  verse,  and  in  the  section  from 
the  Prophets,  or  Haphtarah,  after  every  three  verses. 
But  the  Methurgeman  was  not  allowed  to  read  his 
translation,  lest  it  might  popularly  be  regarded  as 
authoritative.  This  may  help  us  in  some  measure  to 
understand  the  popular  mode  of  Old  Testament  quo- 


84  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

tations  in  The  New  Testament.  So  long  as  the 
substance  of  the  text  was  given  correctly,  the  Methur- 
geman  might  paraphrase  for  better  popular  under- 
standing. Again,  it  is  but  natural  to  suppose  that  the 
Methurgeman  would  prepare  himself  for  his  work  by 
such  materials  as  he  might  find  at  hand,  among  which, 
of  course,  the  translation  of  the  LXX.  would  hold  a 
prominent  place.  This  may  in  part  account  alike  for 
the  employment  of  the  LXX.,  and  for  its  Targumic 
modifications,  in  The  New  Testament  quotations." 
The  reading  over,  an  address  or  sermon  followed,  pro- 
vided some  person  was  present  who  was  capable  of 
instruction.  The  preacher  was  called  Amora.  It 
was  common  to  close  the  sermon  with  a  reference  to 
the  Messianic  hope  of  Israel.  The  service  closed 
with  a  short  prayer.  * 

How  thorough  the  Jewish  discipline  was,  is  well 
avouched  by  familiar  passages  in  The  New  Testament. 
Witness  thosef  relative  to  Saul  of  Tarsus  and  Timo- 
thy. Susannah  was  taught  by  her  parents  the  Law 
of  Moses.  I  Josephus  bears  this  deserved  testimony 
to  his  countrymen: 

Our  principal  care  of  all  is  this,  to  educate  our  children  well ; 
and  we  think  it  to  be  the  most  necessary  business  of  our  whole 
life  to  observe  the  laws  that  have  been  given  us ,  and  to  keep 
those  rules  of  piety  that  have  been  delivered  down  to  us.  .  . 
For  there  are  two  ways  of  coming  at  any  sort  of  learning  and  a 
moral  conduct  of  life ;  the  one  is  by  instruction  in  words ,  the 
other  by  practical  exercises.  Now  other  lawgivers  have  sepa- 

*  This  account  is  also  drawn  from  Edersheim,  Book  III. ,  Chapter  x.  An 
extremely  interesting  account  of  Jewish  preaching  is  found  in  this  chapter. 
See  also  Sketches  of  Jewish  Social  Life,  Chaps,  xvi. ,  xvii. 

t  Actsxxii,  3;  2  Tim.  iii.  15. 

I  See  the  Apocryphal  book  of  that  name. 


THE  EDUCATION  OF  JESUS.  35 

rated  these  two  ways  in  their  opinions,  and  choosing  one  of 
those  ways  of  instruction ,  or  that  which  best  pleased  any  one  of 
them,  neglected  the  other.  .  .  .  But  for  our  legislator,  he 
very  carefully  joined  these  two  methods  of  instruction  together  ; 
for  he  neither  left  these  practical  exercises  to  go  on  without 
verbal  instruction ,  nor  did  he  permit  the  hearing  of  the  law  to 
proceed  without  the  exercises  for  practice.  .  .  And,  indeed, 
the  greatest  part  of  mankind  are  so  far  from  living  according  to 
their  own  laws,  that  they  hardly  know  them.  .  .  .  But  for 
our  people ,  if  anybody  do  but  ask  any  one  of  them  about  our 
laws,  he  will  more  readily  tell  them  all  than  he  will  tell  his 
own  name ,  and  this  in  consequence  of  our  having  learned  them 
immediately  as  soon  as  we  became  sensible  of  anything,  and  of 
our  having  them,  as  it  were,  engraven  on  our  souls.  * 

And  similarly  Phiio:  "Since  the  Jews  look  on 
their  laws  as  revelations  from  God,  and  are  taught 
them  from  their  earliest  childhood,  they  bear  the 
image  of  the  Law  on  their  souls.  They  are  taught,  so 
to  speak,  from  their  very  swaddling-clothes,  by  their 
parents,  masters,  and  teachers,  in  the  holy  laws,  and 
in  the  unwritten  customs,  and  to  believe  in  God,  the 
one  Father  and  Creator  of  the  world. "t 

In  no  other  country  has  teaching  ever  been  so  much 
magnified  as  it  was  in  Judea.  In  no  other  country  has 
the  teacher  ever  attained  to  such  an  exalted  position. 
Few  priesthoods,  if  any,  have  ever  attained  to  such 
unquestioned  mastery  over  the  minds  of  men  as  the 
Rabbis  gained.  This  is  attested  both  by  facts  and  by 
maxims.  "The  people  which  knoweth  not  the  law  is 
accursed."  "A  town  in  which  there  is  no  school 
must  perish.'*  "Jerusalem  was  destroyed  because 
the  education  of  children  was  neglected."  "  Get  thy- 

*  Against  Apion,  i.  12;  ii.  17,  18,  19. 

t  Quoted  by  Dr.  Geike:    Life  and  Words  of  Christ.    Vol.  I. ,  p.  173. 


36  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

self  a  teacher."  " Make  the  study  of  the  Law  thy 
special  business."  "An  ignorant  man  cannot  be  truly 
pious."  "The  more  teaching  of  the  Law,  the  more 
life;  the  more  school,  the  more  wisdom;  the  more 
counsel,  the  more  reasonable  action."  "A  bastard 
who  knows  the  Law  takes  precedence  of  a  high  priest 
if  he  be  ignorant."  The  honor  due  to  a  teacher  bor- 
dered on  that  due  to  God.  The  common  discourse  of 
the  Rabbi  was  as  much  to  be  revered  as  the  Law 
itself,  and  even  more.  To  dispute  with  a  Rabbi,  or  to 
murmur  against  him,  was  as  sinful  as  to  murmur 
against  God.  The  Jew  was  to  prefer  his  teacher  to 
his  father;  the  one  had  given  him  temporal  life,  the 
other  eternal  life.  If  his  father  and  a  Rabbi  were 
both  carrying  burdens,  he  must  assist  the  Rabbi  to  the 
exclusion  of  his  father;  if  they  were  both  confined  in 
prison,  he  must  redeem  them  in  the  same  order.  It  is 
related  that  on  one  occasion  as  the  high  priest  was 
returning  from  the  Temple  on  the  day  of  atonement, 
two  Rabbis  passed  by,  when  the  crowd,  that  had  been 
following  the  priest,  forsook  him  and  paid  reverence 
to  the  two  teachers.*  Farther  than  this  the  glorifica- 
tion of  the  teacher  cannot  go. 

Such  was  the  compass  and  thoroughness  of  the  sys- 
tem of  training  under  which  the  Jewish  boy  passed  at 
birth.  The  subjection  of  Jesus  to  His  parents  at 
Nazareth  involved  His  subjection  to  this  system. 
While  we  are  not  told  that  He  ever  went  to  school,  it 
cannot  be  doubted  that  He  did  go.  How  fully  the 

*  See  SchUrer:  The  Jewish  People  in  the  Time  of  Jesus  Christ.  Div.  II. , 
Vol.  II. ,  Par.  27;  and  Geike:  Life  and  Words  of  Christ.  Vol.  I. ,  Chaps,  xii. 
and  xvii. 


THE  EDUCATION  OF  JESUS.     -  37 

Jewish  system  of  schools  was  developed  in  His 
time,  is  indeed  somewhat  uncertain.  Edersheim  says 
there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  then  the  pri- 
mary school  existed  throughout  the  land.  Later  on, 
tradition  ascribes  to  Joshua  son  of  Gamaliel  the  intro- 
duction of  schools  in  every  town,  and  compulsory 
education  in  them  for  children  above  the  age  of  six. 
"In  all  probability,"  he  says,  "there  was  such  a 
school  in  Nazareth;  "  but  learned  Rabbis  were  not  in 
Nazareth  either  then  or  afterwards.*  Schiirer  says, 
"  It  appears  that  even  in  the  age  of  Christ  care  was 
also  taken  for  the  instruction  of  youth  by  the  erec- 
tion of  schools  on  the  part  of  the  community."  Of 
Joshua  son  of  Gamaliel  he  says:  "As  his  meas- 
urers presuppose  a  somewhat  longer  existence  of 
boys'  schools,  we  may  without  hesitation  refer  them 
to  the  age  of  Christ,  even  though  not  as  a  general  and 
established  institution.  Joshua  was  high  priest  64, 
65  A.  D."t  The  attainments  of  Jesus  that  suggest  the 
school  may  be  thus  summed  up: 

1.  He  was  a  master  of  the  art  of  reading,  for  we 
are  told  that  it  was  His  custom  to  read  in  the  syna- 
gogue at  Nazareth.  The  question  in  John  viii.  15, 
"  How  knowest  this  man  letters,  having  never 
learned?"  is  not  an  expression  of  surprise  at  His  abil- 
ity to  read,  because  that  was  perfectly  well  known, 
but  rather  at  the  range  and  depth  of  His  knowledge. 
It  is  similar  in  meaning  to  another  question  that  was 
once  asked  about  Him,  "Whence  hath  this  man  this 
wisdom?"| 

*  Vol.  I.,  pp.  230,  233.  T  Div.  II.,  Vol.  II.,  pars.  48,  49. 

\  Matt.  xiii.  54. 


38  .        JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

2.  The   art    of  writing    was   far   less   common  in 
Judea  than  that   of  reading;  still  it  is  certain  that 
Jesus  could  write.     His  allusions  to  the  forms  of  the 
Hebrew  letters,  and  His   writing  with  His  finger  on 
the  ground,  according  to  Oriental  usage,  are  conclu- 
sive evidence  on  that  point.* 

3.  He  spoke   the  Aramaic  dialect,  which  was  then 
the  vernacular  of  Judea.      Long  before  Hebrew  had 
become  a  dead  letter;    still  He  must  have  read  that 
language  fluently,  unless,  indeed,  we  are  to  suppose 
that  there  was  an  Aramaic  version  of  the  Scriptures 
then  extant,  which    is  a  very  improbable  supposition. 
Nor  is  it  likely  that  He  read  in  the  synagogue  from 
The  Septuagint.     There  can  be  no  doubt,  therefore, 
that  He  read  the  Scriptures  in  the  original  Hebrew. 

4.  He  was  profoundly  versed  in  the  Scriptures,  not 
only  in  the   Law,  but   also  in  the  Prophets  and  the 
Psalms.     Often  He  was  able  to  confute  the  Rabbis, 
well  read  as  they  were,  with  His  pungent  question, 
"Have  ye   not  read?"  following   up  the  words  with 
some  appropriate  quotation.     "That  His  knowledge 
of  the   Sacred  Scriptures   was  deep  and  extensive," 
says  Canon  Farrar,  "that  in  fact  He  must  almost  have 
known  them  by  heart,  is   clear,  not  only  from  His 
direct  quotations,  but  also  from  the  numerous  allu- 
sions  which  He  made  to  the  Law  and  to  the  Hagi- 
ography,  as  well  as  to  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  Daniel,  Joel, 
Hosea,  Micuh,  Zechariah,  Malachi,  and  above  all  to 
the   Book   of   Psalms."      The    learned    Canon    also 
thinks  that  He  was  acquainted  with  the  uncanonical 
books,  and   adduces  some   evidence  to  support  that 
opinion. 

*  Matt.  v.  18;  John  viii.  6. 


THE  EDUCATION  OF  JESUS.  39 

5.  He  was  also  familiar  with  the  traditions  of  the 
Elders  that  time  had  gathered  about  the  Law,  and 
that,  as  He  declared,  made  it  of  none  effect.     Still 
there  is  no  evidence  to  show  that  He  was  ever  the  dis- 
ciple  of  any  Rabbi,  as   Saul  was   of  Gamaliel,    but 
rather  the  contrary. 

6.  He  was  also  familiar  with  the  Rabbinical  modes 
of    interpretation   or  exegesis.     Moreover,  He  was  a 
consummate  master  of  all  the  methods  of  teaching 
that  were  current  in  His  country  at  the  time.  This  fact 
will  engage  our  attention  hereafter.     These  methods, 
however,  He  no  doubt  acquired  by  reading,  observa- 
tion, and  reflection,  and  not  by  study  in  the  schools. 

So  much  is  certain.  Canon  Farrar  supposes  that 
Jesus  also  knew  Greek,  and  draws  the  inference  from 
the  fact  that  many  of  His  quotations  appear  t5  have 
been  made  from  The  Septuagint  version.  The  Canon 
thinks  it  possible,  also,  that  He  was  acquainted  with 
Latin.  He  may  be  right  or  wrong  in  these  views, 
but  he  is  unquestionably  right  when  he  says  that  these 
languages  exercised  little  or  no  influence  on  Jesus' s 
development.  There  is  not  in  all  His  teaching  a 
single  indisputable  allusion  to  the  literature,  philos- 
ophy, or  history  of  Greece  or  Rome.*  There  is  "not 
the  slightest  reason  to  think  that  the  preparation  of 
the  Great  Teacher  was  due  in  any  part  to  facts  or 
influences  existing  outside  of  His  own  country.  In 
education  He  was  a  true  son  of  Israel. 

NOTE. — Mention  has  been  made  of  the  teaching  function  that 
Moses  committed  to  the  Jewish  priest.  It  is  not  sufficiently 
understood,  perhaps,  that  this  was  an  innovation.  The  priest 

*  The  Life  of  Christ,  Vol.  I. ,  p.  89-92. 


40  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

per  se  is  not  a  teacher.  He  is  the  man  of  the  altar  or  temple, 
intrusted  with  ritualistic,  ceremonial,  and  mystical  duties. 
The  Greek  hierus  means  a  sacrificer,  and  hieruo  means  to 
slaughter  for  sacrifice.  The  priest's  position  is  a  legal,  not  a 
moral  one.  So  machine -like  was  the  Pagan  conception  of  re- 
ligion, that  little,  if  any,  attention  was  paid  to  his  character. 
Julius  Caesar  was  high  priest  at  Rome.  Neither  were  the  Jew- 
ish priests,  primarily,  teachers.  A  graphic  description  of  their 
principal  duties  will  be  found  in  Stanley '  s  ' '  History  of  the 
Jewish  Church, ' '  Lecture  XXXVI.  Still,  Moses  did  commit  a 
limited  teaching  function  to  them.  Jesus  went  still  further ; 
He  appointed  teachers  and  preachers,  but  no  priests.  Writing 
from  the  rationalistic  standpoint,  Mr.  Lecky  thus  describes  the 
difference  between  Paganism  and  Christianity  in  this  regard : 

It  is  common  with  many  persons  to  establish  a  comparison 
between  Christianity  and  Paganism ,  by  placing  the  teaching  of 
the  Christians  in  juxtaposition  with  corresponding  passages 
from  the  writings  of  Marcus  Aurelius  or  Seneca,  and  to  regard 
the  superiority  of  the  Christian  over  the  philosophical  teaching 
as  a  complete  measure  of  the  moral  advance  that  was  effected 
by  Christianity.  But  a  moment '  s  reflection  is  sufficient  to  dis- 
play the  injustice  of  such  a  conclusion.  The  ethics  of  Paganism"] 
were  part  of  a  philosophy.  The  ethics  of  Christianity  were  part  I 
of  a  religion.  The  first  were  the  speculations  of  a  few  highJ^ 
cultivated  individuals,  and  neither  had  nor  could  have  had  any 
direct  influence  upon  the  masses  of  mankind.  The  second  were 
indissolubly  connected  with  the  worship,  hopes,  and  fears  of  a 
vast  religious  system,  that  acts  at  least  as  powerfully  on  the 
most  ignorant  as  on  the  most  educated.  The  objects  of  the 
Pagan  systems  were  to  foretell  the  future,  to  explain  the  uni- 
verse, to  avert  calamity,  to  obtain  the  assistance  of  the  gods. 
They  contained  no  instruments  of  moral  teaching  analogous  to 
our  institution  of  preaching,  or  to  the  moral  preparation  for  the 
reception  of  the  sacrament,  or  to  confession,  or  to  the  reading 
of  The  Bible,  or  to  religious  education,  or  to  united  prayer  for 
spiritual  benefits.  To  make  men  virtuous  was  no  more  the 
function  of  the  priest  than  of  the  physician.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  philosophic  expositions  of  duty  were  wholly  uncon- 
nected with  the  religious  ceremonies  of  the  temple.  To  amal- 
gamate these  two  spheres,  to  incorporate  moral  culture  with 
religion,  and  thus  to  enlist  in  its  behalf  that  desire  to  enter,  by 
means  of  ceremonial  observances,  into  direct  communication 
with  Heaven,  which  experience  has  shown  to  be  one  of  the  most 
universal  and  powerful  passions  of  mankind,  was  among  the 


THE  EDUCATION  OF  JESUS.  41 

most  important  achievements  of  Christianity.  Something  had 
no  doubt  been  already  attempted  in  this  direction.  Philosophy, 
in  the  hands  of  the  rhetoricians,  had  become  more  popular. 
The  Pythagoreans  enjoined  religious  ceremonies  for  the  purpose 
of  purifying  the  mind,  and  expiatory  rites  were  common, 
especially  in  the  Oriental  religions.  But  it  was  the  distinguish- 
ing characteristic  of  Christianity,  that  its  moral  influence  was 
not  indirect,  casual,  remote,  or  spasmodic.  Unlike  all  Pagan 
religions,  it  made  moral  teaching  a  main  function  of  its  clergy, 
moral  discipline  the  leading  object  of  its  services,  moral  dispo- 
sitions the  necessary  condition  of  the  due  performance  of  its 
rites.  By  the  pulpit,  by  its  ceremonies,  by  all  the  agencies  of 
power  it  possessed,  it  labored  systematically  and  perseveringly 
for  the  regeneration  of  mankind.  Under  its  influence,  doc- 
trines concerning  tne  nature  of  God,  the  immortality  of  the  soul, 
and  the  duties  of  men ,  which  the  noblest  intellects  of  antiquity 
could  barely  grasp,  have  become  the  truisms  of  the  village 
school,  the  proverbs  of  the  cottage,  and  of  the  alley. — History 
of  European  Morals,  etc. ,  Chap.  IV. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

HIS    INSIGHT    INTO   MIND   AND    CHARACTER. 

A  SUCCESSFUL  teacher  must  combine  in  somethiug 
like  harmony  four  different  qualifications,  and  a 
great  teacher  must  combine  them  in  an  eminent  de- 
gree. 

1.  A  knowledge  of  the  mind,  its  capabilities  and 
functions,  its  laws  of  activity  and  modes  of  growth. 

2.  An  ideal,  model,  or  pattern  of  mind  and  char- 
acter to  which  teaching  shall  conform.. 

3.  A   body   of   knowledge,    doctrine,    or  teachipg 
adapted  to  the  mind  and  chosen  with  reference  to  the 
ideal. 

4.  Practical  skill  that  will  enable  the  teacher  to 
use  knowledge   or    doctrine   in    a   manner  that  will 
work  out  the  ideal.     In  The  New  Testament  a  person 
who  has  such  skill  is  said  to  be  "  apt  to  teach,"  and 
it  is  made  one  of  the  qualifications  of  a  pastor.  * 

Obviously,  these  elements  are  more  or  less  related. 
Knowledge  of  mind,  in  connection  with  the  facts  of 
environment,  suggests  the  educational  ideal.  Such 
knowledge  again  conduces  to  skill  in  teaching.  The 
same  may  be  said  of  knowledge  or  doctrine ;  one  can- 
not teach  what  he  does  not  know.  Once  more,  a 
clearly  defined  idea  in  relation  to  what  is  to  be  done 

*1  Tim.iii.  2. 
(42) 


INSIGHT  INTO  MIND  AND  CHARACTER.  43 

conduces  to  practical  skill  and  success.  Still  it  must 
be  said  that  the  four  elements  are  not  necessarily 
found  associated  togther.  Good  scholars,  for  exam- 
ple, sometimes  fail  as  teachers  because  they  lack  apti- 
tude, while  persons  who  have  aptitude  succeed  beyond 
what  their  attainments  in  knowledge  and  doctrine 
would  justify  us  in  expecting.  No  doubt  the  first  and 
the  last  of  the  four  elements  present  as  close  a  rela- 
lation  as  any  of  the  four,  if  not  indeed  the  closest 
one.  In  fact,  teaching  skill  is  absolutely  dependent 
upon  knowledge  of  the  mind.  While  argument  to 
show  this  is  not  deemed  necessary,  it  still  seems  desir- 
able to  offer  some  observations  upon  the  kind  of 
knowledge  that  causes  skill. 

First,  this  knowledge  must  relate  to  mind  in  its 
general  character  and  attributes.  When  everything 
has  been  said  about  the  mental  peculiarities  of  races, 
nations,  families,  and  individuals,  the  human  mind 
still  remains  one.  All  men  know,  feel,  and  resolve ;  all 
perceive,  remember,  and  imagine;  all  are  susceptible 
to  mystery  and  wonder,  to  awe  and  reverence  ;  all 
have  some  sense  of  right  and  obligation;  all  believe 
in  some  power  or  cause  superior  to  themselves.  These 
facts  are  the  strongest  proofs  of  the  spiritual  unity  of 
the  race. 

Secondly,  the  teacher  cannot  be  content  with  this 
general  knowledge.  The  Greek  mind  was  specula- 
tive, the  Latin  mind  practical.  The  same  may  be 
said  of  the  German  and  English  minds  respectively. 
The  Southern  races  of  Europe  are  moved  more 
by  their  senses  and  feelings  than  the  Northern  races. 
Communities  of  the  same  country  differ  in  men- 


44  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

tal  tone  and  color.  One  is  critical,  exact,  and  cold; 
another  warm  and  demonstrative.  And  so  it  is 
with  individuals.  All  men  are  built  on  what  may 
be  called  the  same  ground  plan.  They  all  have 
intellect,  sensibility  and  will,  consciousness  and  con- 
science, the  natural  and  moral  affections,  the  relig- 
ious emotions,  the  intuitions,  perceptive  knowledge, 
memory,  imagination,  and  thought;  all  have  the  ideas 
of  pain  and  pleasure,  of  good  and  ill,  of  personality 
and  responsibility.  But  two  houses  quite  different  in 
construction  may  be  built  on  the  same  foundation 
and  of  the  same  materials.  So  it  is  with  men.  The 
world  of  man  presents  a  variety  equal  to  the  variety  of 
nature.  No  two  individuals  are  exactly  alike.  One 
is  strong  in  intellect,  but  deficient  in  sensibility  or  in 
purpose ;  a  second  has  strong  feelings,  but  is  weak  in 
one  or  both  of  the  other  faculties;  a  third  has  a 
sluggish  imagination,  but  much  argumentative  power; 
a  fourth,  warm  affections  and  generous  impulses  com- 
bined with  a  small  sense  of  duty.  One  man  will 
listen  to  argument,  but  cannot  be  moved  by  exhorta- 
tion ;  another  will  weep  at  some  picture  of  distress, 
but  cannot  see  the  logical  relation  of  two  thonghts;  a 
a  third  will  give  money  to  a  beggar,  but  leave  his 
debts  unpaid;  a  fourth  is  as  just  as  Rhadamanthus, 
and  also  as  unfeeling.  Accordingly,  the  knowledge 
of  the  mind  that  is  found  in  books  of  psychology  does 
not  answer  the  teacher's  purpose.  It  may  qualify 
him  to  teach  a  man  rather  than  a  horse  or  a  dog,  but 
not  one  man  rather  than  another  man,  not  John  rath- 
er than  James.  The  teacher  must  know  men  in  their 
individual  characters,  as  well  as  in  their  general  con- 


INSIGHT  INTO  MIND  AND  CHARACTER.  45 

stitutioii.  He  must,  in  other  words,  know  minds,  as 
well  as  mind. 

Thirdly,  the  teacher  must  have  a  large  first-hand, 
practical,  and  concrete  knowledge  of  the  mind.  He 
cannot  depend  upon  the  abstract  knowledge  of  books 
— their  analyses,  classifications,  and  critical  discus- 
sions. This  has  much  value,  and  no  teacher  should 
be  without  it,  but  for  practical  purposes  knowledge 
that  comes  from  personal  observation  and  reflection, 
that  roots  in  experience,  that  springs  from  contact 
with  men,  is  of  much  greater  value.  It  suggests  life 
rather  than  books,  aptitude  rather  than  learning. 
Many  persons  well  read  in  books  of  mental  science 
lack  the  teacher's  skill ;  while  a  still  larger  class  who 
are  strangers  to  such  books  possess  this  skill. 

Fourthly,  a  good  deal  depends  upon  the  manner 
in  which  the  knowledge  comes.  Some  persons  learn 
a  good  deal  about  the  mind  and  minds,  but  they  learn 
it  slowly  and  painfully.  They  accumulate  valuabb 
facts,  they  work  out  sound  conclusions,  but  they  do 
not  make  a  practical  application  of  their  knowledge, 
or  they  do  it  in  a  halting  or  bungling  manner.  They 
know  men  as  abstractions,  not  as  concrete  personali- 
ties. They  lack  tact  or  native  aptness.  Other  per- 
sons are  quick  and  penetrative ;  they  see  at  once  the 
meaning  and  bearing  of  facts;  they  seem  to  carry 
their  minds  in  their  eyes  and  fingers,  and  they  are 
said  to  read  character  at  a  glance.  The  processes  of 
feeling  are  quicker,  though  perhaps  less  sure,  than 
those  of  logic,  and  these  persons  seem  almost  to  feel 
rather  than  think  their  way.  It  is  common  to  de- 
scribe them  as  "intuitive":  but  their  so-called  intu- 


46  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

ition  is  nothing  but  a  very  rapid   process   of  thought. 

Lastly,  this  so-called  intuitive  intelligence  in  most 
cases  is  causally  related  to  sympathy,  both  intellec- 
tual and  moral.  Persons  who  have  one  are  likely  to 
have  the  other,  and  persons  who  are  deficient  in  one 
are  likely  to  be  deficient  in  the  other.  Perhaps  the 
two  are  but  different  ways  of  saying  the  same  thing. 
A  large  measure  of  this  power  is  essential  to  the 
critic  of  literary  productions  and  to  the  historian,  as 
well  as  to  the  teacher.  We  cannot  understand  an  au- 
thor unless  we  get  at  his  point  of  view,  see  things  as 
he  saw  them,  feel  somewhat  as  he  felt,  think  and  ar- 
gue as  he  thought  and  argued;  that  is,  come  into  a 
sympathetic  relation  with  him.  Women  are  more  apt 
to  possess  the  intelligence  that  feels  and  the  feeling 
that  knows  than  men;  and  this  is  why,  for  some  pur- 
poses, they  surpass  men  as  teachers.  All  teachers,  to 
be  successful,  must  be  able  to  appreciate  the  difficul- 
ties and  trials  of  their  pupils,  and  to  graduate  their 
instruction  to  their  ability,  furnishing  them  also  the 
needed  encouragement,  and  particularly  in  the  case 
of  the  young  and  weak.  The  most  successful  teachers 
are  characterized  by  a  certain  simplicity  of  character; 
they  are  in  league  with  human  nature. 

A  competent  knowledge  of  men  is  even  more  neces- 
sary to  teachers  of  morals  and  religion  than  to  teach- 
ers of  the  branches  of  secular  education.  A  distin- 
guished writer  has  said:  "  The  difficulties  of  moral 
teaching  exceed  in  every  way  the  difficulties  of  in- 
tellectual teaching.  The  method  of  proceeding  is 
hampered  by  so  many  conditions  that  it  barely  ad- 
mits of  precise  demonstration  or  statement."  *  The 

*  Dr.  Alexander  Bain  :    Education  as  a  Science,  p.  399. 


INSIGHT  INTO  MIND  AND  CHARACTER.  47 

secular  teacher  is,  or  should  be,  much  more  than  a 
former  of  intellect;  he  should  look  after  the  moral 
principles,  sentiments,  and  conduct  of  his  pupils, 
especially  in  schools  of  lower  grade;  but,  after  all, 
hl.-j  task  is  simple  and  easy  compared  with  the  teacher 
whose  main  function  is  to  form  the  moral  character. 
A  great  preacher  has  something  of  the  gift  of  the 
prophet,  seeing  things  by  a  sort  of  gaze. 

We  do  not  always  stop  to  think  how  God's  knowl- 
edge differs  from  our  knowledge.  God  is  said  to 
think  and  to  reason,  and  His  eye  is  said  to  be  on  them 
that  fear  Him.  "Come  now,  and  let  us  reason  to- 
gether." *  This  is  what  is  technically  called  anthro- 
pomorphic language;  it  is  used  in  accommodation  to 
human  modes  of  speech  and  thought.  But  God  does 
not  reason  or  think  in  the  sense  that  He  collects  facts 
or  data,  and  then  draws  conclusions  from  them, — in 
the  sense  that  He  discovers  what  He  did  not  know. 
The  Almighty  is  not  an  inductive  philosopher.  He 
does  not  proceed  by  ratiocination,  or  in  fact  "  pro- 
ceed "  at  all.  He  reasons  with  men  for  their  enlight- 
enment, but  not  for  His  own  enlightenment.  We  do 
not  think  of  Him  as  learning  by  experience  or  as 
working  out  problems.  The  language  that  best  fits 
the  case  is  that  suggested  by  the  sense  of  vision.  God 
sees,  perceives,  beholds.  His  knowledge  is  intuitive. 
Nor  is  the  eye  of  the  Lord  upon  men  that  He  may  find 
out  something  about  them.  "Neither  is  there  any  crea- 
ture that  is  not  manifest  in  His  sight :  but  all  things  are 
naked  and  opened  unto  the  eyes  of  Him  with  whom  we 
have  to  do."t  Men  also  see  and  perceive,  and  have 

*  Isa.  i.  18.  t  Heb.  iv.  13. 


48  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

intuitions,  but  only  in  a  limited  sense.  We  observe 
and  register  phenomena,  classify  facts,  deduce  con- 
clusions and  laws,  and  build  up  systems;  but  in  sci- 
ence and  philosophy  we  return  to  the  subject  again 
and  again;  we  seek  to  verify  our  facts  and  test  our 
conclusions ;  and  when  we  have  finished  we  are  not 
sure,  save  in  a  limited  sphere,  of  our  results.  Some 
of  the  best  known  sciences  have  been  largely  reorgan- 
ized within  the  last  few  years.  We  have  the  "  new 
chemistry,"  the  "new  astronomy,"  the  "  new  political 
economy,"  and  even  the  "new  mathematics."  Par- 
ticularly in  the  field  of  human  conduct,  where  man's 
will  is  the  governing  faculty,  we  are  often  uncertain 
of  our  way,  and  sometimes  are  wholly  lost. 

Still  it  is  easy  to  exaggerate  the  value  of  what  is 
commonly  called  "  proof."  To  a  deep-thinking  mind 
it  is  often,  if  not  commonly,  a  shallow  matter.  Par- 
ticularly is  this  true  in  ethics  and  religion.  It  does 
not  reach  the  primary  ideas  upon  which  belief  rests. 
Mr.  Emerson,  who  never  attempted  to  prove  his  teach- 
ings, and  frankly  admitted  that  he  could  not  do  so, 
once  replied  to  an  objector:  "I  am  sorry  if  I  have 
been  betrayed  into  saying  anything  that  requires 
proof."  With  him  learning  was  intuition  or  insight, 
and  he  thought  that  other  men  should  see  things  as  he 
saw  them.  Proof  is  indeed  the  method  of  science, 
including  theology;  it  has,  no  doubt,  a  function  in 
religious  teaching;  but  it  is  not  the  method  of  the 
highest  form  of  religious  teaching.  The  fundamental 
truths  of  religion  are  directly  revealed  to  the  human 
consciousness,  and  are  not  argued  out  or  logically 
established.  Spiritual  things  are  spiritually  discerned. 


INSIGHT  INTO  MIND  AND  CHARACTER.  49 

Thus  the  presuppositions  upon  which  The  Bible  rests 
are  assumed,  never  established.  It  is  asserted  that 
God  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  but  no  attempt 
is  made  to  prove  His  existence.  The  Bible  starts  with 
the  assumption  that  this  is  already  known.  Here  I 
recall  nothing  that  comes  nearer  to  proof  than  the 
words  of  the  Psalmist:  "The  heavens  declare  the 
glory  of  God,  and  the  firmament  showeth  His  handi- 
work."* Or  the  words  of  the  Apostle:  "For  the 
invisible  things  of  Him  from  the  creation  of  the  world 
are  clearly  seen,  being  understood  by  the  things  that 
are  made,  even  His  eternal  power  and  God-head. "f 
The  greatest  religious  truths  lie  deeper  than  formal 
reasoning.  This  is  the  reason  why  the  greatest  religious 
teachers  have  worked  below  the  proposition-and-proof 
level;  as  said  before,  they  have  something  of  the  pro- 
phetic gift.  It  may  be  added  that  no  preacher  who 
works  mainly  on  this  line  will  attract  the  most  relig- 
ious minds;  he  will  not  attract  even  those  who  have 
the  piety  of  the  intellect,  to  say  nothing  of  the  piety 
of  the  affections  and  the  will.  He  may  develop  log- 
ical acumen,  critical  ability,  and  controversial  power, 
but  he  will  prove  unequal  to  the  generation  of  spiritu- 
ality. He  has  nothing  to  draw  with,  and  the  well  is 
deep.  Such  a  minister  will  be  sure  to  lead  his  flock 
into  the  error  that  is  now  far  too  common, — the  error 
of  assigning  a  disproportionate  place  in  religious 
faith  and  life  to  the  understanding,  to  the  partial 
exclusion  of  the  heart. 


*  Psa.  xix.  1.  t  Rom.  i.  20. 


50  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

These  observations  lead  directly  to  our  subject.  We 
read  in  the  fourth  Gospel:  "Now  when  He  was  in  Je- 
rusalem at  the  passover,  in  the  feast  day,  many  believ- 
ed in  His  name,  when  they  saw  the  miracles  which  He 
did.  But  Jesus  did  not  commit  himself  unto  them,  be- 
cause He  knew  all  men,  and  needed  not  that  any  should 
testify  of  man;  for  He  knew  what  was  in  man."* 
The  Gospels  abound  in  illustrations  of  this  state- 
ment. "And  Jesus,  knowing  their  thoughts,  said, 
Wherefore  think  ye  evil  in  your  hearts?  "  t  "And 
Jesus  knew  their  thoughts."  |  "But  He,  knowing 
their  hypocrisy,"  etc.||  "But  when  Jesus  perceived 
their  thoughts,  He  answering  said  unto  them."§ 
"But  he  knew  their  thoughts.  "U  "And  Jesus,  per- 
ceiving the  thought  of  their  hearts,  took  a  child," 
etc.**  "For  Jesus  knew  from  the  beginning  who  they 
were  that  believed  not,  and  who  should  betray  Him."  tt 
These  terms  suggest,  what  the  circumstances  con- 
firm,— that  Jesus's  knowledge  of  men  was  direct,  sure, 
and  penetrating.  The  Divine  knowledge  shone  out  in 
Him.  He  read  men,  saw  what  was  in  their  hearts, 
and  needed  not  that  any  should  testify  to  Him  of 
man.  From  a  pedagogical  standpoint,  His  intuition 
was  the  first  condition  of  His  marvelous  power  as  a 
teacher.  It  gives  the  clue  to  His  sure  appeals  to  the 
human  heart,  and  to  His  triumphant  handling  of  cases 
involving  the  elements  of  character. 

Coming  to  practical  tests,  we  may  first  speak  of 
Jesus  in  relation  to  His  countrymen.  He  fully  under- 
stood the  Jewish  mind.  Hence,  as  we  shall  see  here- 

*  Chap.  ii.  23,  25.          t  Matt.  ix.  4.         J  Matt.  xii.  25.        ||  Mark  xii.  15. 
§  Luke  v.  22.        1  Luke  vi.  8.       **  Luke  ix.  47.        tt  John  vi.  64. 


INSIGHT  INTO  MIND  AND  CHARACTER.  51 

after,  He  employed  the  methods  of  teaching  that  were 
best  suited  to  the  national  genius  and  that  were  sanc- 
tioned by  usage.  There  is  a  certain  suggestiveness  in 
Kenan's  characterization  of  Him  as  "the  charming 
Eabbi." 

He  perfectly  understood  the  state  of  the  national 
religion  in  its  existing  form,  the  character  of  the  cur- 
rent religious  teaching,  and  the  sects,  parties,  and 
factions  into  which  the  nation  was  divided.  With 
the  Hellenistic  side  of  Judaism,  He  did  not  much  come 
into  contact;  the  Palestinian  side  He  knew  altogether. 
He  exhibited  equal  skill  and  power  in  handling  the 
Pharisees,  with  their  hypocrisy,  ritualism,  conven- 
tional piety,  and  self-righteousness;  the  Sadducees, 
with  their  worldliness,  materialism,  and  rationalism; 
and  the  Herodians,  those  selfish  and  unscrupulous  poli- 
ticians. Fully  equal  to  His  handling  of  the  ritualist, 
the  rationalist,  and  the  politician,  but  of  a  very  differ- 
ent kind,  was  His  handling  of  the  inquirer  after  truth, 
of  the  man  with  a  troubled  conscience,  of  the  heart- 
broken penitent  seeking  forgiveness  of  sins.  No  mat- 
ter how  times  and  places  and  circumstances  may 
change,  He  meets  them  all  with  absolute  prescience, 
self-command,  and  mastery.  As  Rousseau  says  of  Him 
in  T/ie  Emile,  "  What  an  affecting  gracefulness  in  His 
instructions!  What  sublimity  in  His  maxims!  What 
profound  wisdom  in  His  discourse !  What  presence 
of  mind,  what  subtlety,  what  fitness  in  His  replies!" 

How  fitting  the  grave  discourse  with  Nicodemus: 
"That  which  is  borji  of  the  flesh  is  flesh;  and  that 
which  is  born  of  the  Spirit  is  spirit."  *  How  perfect 

*  John  iii.  1-15. 


52  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

in  character  the  interview  in  the  house  of  Simon: 
"Her  sins,  which  are  many,  are  forgiven;  for  she 
loved  much."*  How  consummate  the  conversation 
with  the  Samaritan  woman  at  Jacob's  well:  "The 
water  that  I  shall  give  him  shall  be  in  him  a  well  of 
water  springing  up  to  everlasting  life."  f 

How  universal  and  complete  was  His  adaptation  to 
time,  place,  and  circumstance  is  well  shown  by  the 
wide  circle  of  testimony  given  to  Him.  At  the  close 
of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  "the  people  were  aston- 
ished at  His  doctrine."  I  The  officers  sent  to  arrest 
Him  on  one  occasion,  gave  as  a  reason  for  not  exe- 
cuting their  commission,  "Never  man  spake  like  this 
man."  ||  While  Nicodemus  said,  "We  know  that 
thou  art  a  teacher  come  from  God."  § 

This  sure  reading  of  mind  and  character  was  also 
the  first  requisite  to  that  perennial  freshness  and  in- 
terest that  marked  the  teaching  of  Jesus.  The  peo- 
ple were  subsisting,  or  rather  famishing,  upon  the  dry 
traditions,  the  wire-drawn  distinctions,  the  ensnaring 
subtleties,  the  sophistic  casuistry,  the  feeble  exposi- 
tion, and  the  ritualistic  observances  which  the  Rabbis 
meted  out  to  them.  The  hungry  sheep  looked  up 
and  were  not  fed.  He  saw  them  hungry  for  the  bread 
of  life,  thirsty  for  the  waters  of  salvation,  and  He 
met  their  needs  by  pouring  into  their  minds  the  sim- 
ple yet  beautiful  words  that  are  so  fitly  called  "the 
words  of  eternal  life."  Waiting  upon  the  teaching 
of  the  Rabbi  was  eating  the  husks  on  which  the  swine 
fed.  Waiting  upon  His  teaching  was  sitting  down 
at  the  feast  that  the  prodigal's  father  spread. 

*  Luke  vii.  36-50.  t  John  iv.  1-26.  t  Matt.  vii.  28. 

||  John  vii.  46.  §  John  iii.  2. 


INSIGHT  INTO  MIND  AND  CHARACTER.  53 

Finally,  His  matchless  power  to  reveal  men  to 
themselves  sprang  from  the  same  source.  Such 
power  is  a  prime  qualification  of  the  spiritual  teacher. 
Nothing  is  more  common  than  for  men  to  be  ignorant 
of  themselves.  Paul  said  to  the  council,  "I  have 
lived  in  all  good  conscience  before  God  until  this 
day."*  Jesus  said  to  James  and  John,  "Ye  know 
not  what  manner  of  spirit  ye  are  of."  f  Hence  the 
thoughts  of  men's  hearts  must  be  revealed;  they 
must  be  made  acquainted  with  the  real  ends  to  which 
they  aspire,  the  principles  that  guide,  and  the  mo- 
tives that  incite  their  action. 

As  we  shall  see  hereafter,  Jesus  sometimes  argued 
or  adduced  proofs.  Still,  this  was  not  His  habitual, 
or  even  His  customary,  method  of  teaching.  It 
would  be  impossible  to  resolve  His  teachings  into  a 
series  of  reasonings.  In  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount, 
He  simply  asserted  or  announced  things  as  directly 
and  clearly  as  He  saw  them,  and  this  calm  announce- 
ment was  the  substance  of  that  authority  which  so 
charmed  the  multitude. 

*  Acts  xxiii.  1.  t  Luke  ix.  56. 


CHAPTEK  V. 

HIS    RELATION   TO   TRADITION   AND    LEGALISM. 

IT  may  sound  paradoxical  to  say  that  the  Jewish 
Rabbis  were  at  once  great  legalists  and  great  tradition- 
alists. Jesus  sets  tradition  over  against  the  Law. 
The  truth  is,  however,  that  this  is  a  very  common 
combination,  and  even  a  necessary  one  under  cer- 
tain conditions.  Previous  to  the  Captivity  the  Jews 
were  quite  disposed  to  play  fast  and  loose  with  the 
Law.  After  that  time  they  became  as  intense  legal- 
ists as  the  world  has  seen.  How  this  came  about,  and 
how  legalism  necessitated  tradition,  Dean  Milman  has 
explained  in  a  passage  that  may  well  be  quoted. 

The  Jews  who  returned  f  rorri.  the  Captivity  brought  with  them 
a  reverential,  or  rather  a  passionate,  attachment  to  the  Mosaic 
Law.  This  it  seems  to  have  been  the  prudent  policy  of  their 
leaders,  Ezra  and  Nehemiah,  to  encourage  by  all  possible 
means,  as  the  great  bond  of  social  union,  and  the  unfailing  prin- 
ciple of  separation  from  the  rest  of  mankind.  The  consecra- 
tion of  the  second  Temple,  and  the  re -establishment  of  the  State, 
was  accompanied  by  the  ready  and  solemn  recognition  of  the 
Law.  By  degrees  attachment  to  the  Law  sank  deeper  and 
deeper  into  the  national  character ;  it  was  not  merely  at  once 
their  Bible  and  their  Statute  Book,  it  entered  into  the  most 
minute  detail  of  common  life.  But  no  written  law  can  provide 
for  all  possible  exigencies  ;  whether  general  and  comprehensive, 
or  minute  and  multifarious ,  it  equally  requires  the  expositor  to 
adapt  it  to  the  immediate  case  which  may  occur,  either  before 

(54) 


RELATION  TO  TRADITION  AND  LEGALISM.        55 

the  public  tribunal,  or  that  of  the  private  conscience.  Hence 
the  Law  became  a  deep  and  intricate  study.  Certain  men  rose 
to  acknowledged  eminence  for  their  ingenuity  in  explaining, 
their  readiness  in  applying,  their  facility  in  quoting,  and  their 
clearness  in  offering  solutions  of  the  difficult  passages  of  the 
written  statutes.  Learning  in  the  Law  became  the  great  dis- 
tinction to  which  all  alike  paid  reverential  homage.  Public  and 
private  affairs  depended  on  the  sanction  of  this  self -formed 
spiritual  aristocracy.  In  an  imperfect  calendar  the  accurate 
settling  of  the  proper  days  for  the  different  fasts  and  festivals 
was  of  the  first  importance.  It  would  have  been  considered  as 
inevitably  tending  to  some  great  national  calamity,  if  it  had 
been  discovered  that  the  new  moon,  or  any  other  movable  festi- 
val, above  all  if  the  Passover,  had  been  celebrated  on  a  miscal- 
culated day.  The  national  sacrifice,  or  that  of  the  individual, 
might  be  vitiated  by  an  inadvertent  want  of  conformity  to  the 
strict  letter  of  the  ritual.  Every  duty  of  life,  of  social  inter- 
course between  man  and  man,  to  omit  its  weightier  authority  as 
the  national  code  of  criminal  and  civil  jurisprudence,  was  regu- 
lated by  an  appeal  to  the  Book  of  the  Law.  Even  at  every 
meal  the  scrupulous  conscience  shuddered  at  the  possibility, 
lest  by  some  neglect,  or  misinterpretation  of  the  statute,  it 
might  fall  into  serious  offense.  In  every  case  the  learned  in  the 
Law  could  alone  decide  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  inquirer.  * 

It  is  easy  to  follow  the  successive  steps  of  this  de- 
velopment. First,  there  was  an  intense  legality;  sec- 
ond, attempts  were  made  to  adapt  the  old  Law,  by 
means  of  commentary  and  exposition,  to  new  condi- 
tions and  needs;  third,  this  commentary  and  exposi- 
tion were  clothed  with  authority,  thus  making  in 
effect  a  new  law ;  next  came  the  oral  transmission  of 
the  new  law  side  by  side  with  the  old  one,  thus  form- 
ing a  tradition,  and  finally  the  repetition  of  this  pro- 
cess to  meet  constantly  changing  conditions  and 
needs.  Thus  the  tradition-process  tended  to  lengthen 

*  History  of  the  Jews,  Book  XVIII. 


56  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

itself  out  interminably.  It  was  greatly  assisted  by 
that  love  of  subtlety  and  refinement  which  roots  in 
man's  pride  of  intellect,  and  in  love  of  superiority. 
At  an  early  stage  in  the  development,  the  idea  that 
anything  new  was  being  produced  was  cast  off,  and 
high  antiquity  was  claimed  for  the  new  law.  Long 
before  the  time  with  which  we  are  dealing,  it  had  be- 
come an  article  of  faith  that  the  Pentateuch  con- 
tained "no  precept  and  no  regulation,  ceremonial, 
doctrinal,  or  legal,  of  which  Grod  had  not  given  to 
Moses  all  explanations  necessary  for  their  application, 
with  the  order  to  transmit  them  by  word  of  mouth." 
It  is  written  in  the  Mischna:  "Moses  received  the 
oral  law  from  Sinai,  and  delivered  it  to  Joshua,  and 
Joshua  to  the  elders,  and  the  elders  to  the  prophets, 
and  the  prophets  to  the  men  of  the  Great  Syna- 
gogue." * 

The  general  effect  of  the  tradition-system  was,  as 
Jesus  said,  to  make  the  Law  of  none  effect. f  Still,  we 
need  not  suppose  that  this  was  the  conscious,  deliber- 
ate intention  of  the  authors  of  tradition.  For  the 
most  part  their  intention  was,  no  doubt,  quite  the 
contrary.  The  Rabbis  were  not  unlike  many  other 
commentators  and  system-makers.  They  went  on  re- 
fining, commenting,  combining;  the  finished  work  of 
one  became  the  raw  materials  of  another;  starting 
from  different  points  in  the  original  system,  they 
reached  divergent  and  contradictory  conclusions. 
Thus,  the  commentary-system  grew  and  grew  until  the 
Law  itself  was  buried  almost  out  of  sight,  and  por- 

*  Smith,  Dictionary  of  the_Bible,  "Pharisees." 
t  Matt.  xv. ;   Mark  vii. 


RELATION  TO  TRADITION  AND  LEGALISM.         57 

tions  of  it  were  repealed  by  a  class  of  men  who 
claimed  to  hold  it  in  the  highest  esteem.  In  fact, 
they  always  professed  that  their  sole  object  was  to 
safeguard  the  Law;  and  the  name  "fence,"  which  they 
gave  to  their  commentaries,  is  extremely  significant. 
In  a  sense  the  Rabbis,  like  all  other  men  engaged  in 
the  same  work,  were  the  victims  of  their  own  system ; 
they  became  enmeshed  in  webs  of  their  own  spinning, 
and  from  which  they  were  unable  to  extricate  them- 
selves ;  moreover,  their  efforts  tended  strongly  to  the 
trampling  down  and  destruction  of  what  they  sought 
to  "fence"  about  and  protect.  Jewish  history  ad- 
mirably illustrates  how  a  tradition-system  necessarily 
leads  to  the.  subversion  of  the  law  of  which  it  is  an 
outgrowth.  The  development  along  one  line  comes 
into  collision  with  the  development  along  another  line, 
involving  in  the  end  the  foundations  of  the  system 
itself. 

A  well-known  case,  reported  in  two  of  the  Gospels, 
is  an  illustration  of  how  the  Rabbinical  method  de- 
voured its  own  children. 

We  read*  that  certain  Scribes  and  Pharisees  who 
were  of  Jerusalem,  observing  that  some  of  the  disci- 
ples partook  of  food  without  first  washing  their 
hands,  and  so  incurred  defilement  according  to  their 
notions,  entered  a  complaint  to  Jesus.  The  nature 
of  their  complaint  is  fully  shown  by  the  facts  which 
Mark  inserts  in  his  narrative:  "  For  the  Pharisees, 
and  all  the  Jews,  except  they  wash  their  hands  oft, 
eat  not,  holding  the  tradition  of  the  Elders.  And 

*  Matt,  xv.;  Markvii. 


58  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

when  they  come  from  the  market,  except  they  wash, 
they  eat  not.  And  many  other  things  there  be,  which 
the}7  have  received  to  hold,  as  the  washing  of  cups 
and  pots,  brazen  vessels  and  of  tables."  The  griev- 
ance of  the  Rabbis  is  not  that  the  disciples  have  com- 
mitted a  breach  of  etiquette  or  of  good  manners,  but 
a  breach  of  religion.  Still  further,  there  is  no  pre- 
tention  that  the  broken  rule  is  a  part  of  the  ceremo- 
nial law;  it  is  merely  a  tradition,  a  commandment  of 
men.  The  question  is,  "Why  do  thy  disciples  trans- 
gress the  commands  of  the  Elders?"  Wholly  ignoring 
for  the  time  their  question,  Jesus  demands  of  them, 
"Why  do  you  transgress  the  commandments  of  God 
by  your  traditions?"  following  up  the  question  by 
giving  them  a  pointed  instance  in  which  they  do  so. 
God  had  commanded,  "Honor thy  father  and  thy  moth- 
er," and  "He  that  curseth  his  father  or  his  mother, 
shall  be  put  to  death."*  To  these  commandments,  of 
course,  the  complainants  must  assent.  He  then  pro- 
ceeds to  show  how  they  have  both  been  practically 
nullified  by  the  Rabbinical  development  of  another 
part  of  the  original  Law. 

The  Law  of  Moses  required  gifts  or  offerings  for 
various  purposes,  as  in  fulfillment  of  a  vow,  and  laid 
down  rules  governing  them.  There  were  rules  where- 
by persons,  animals,  and  property  devoted  to  God 
were  redeemable  in  money;  also  rules  whereby  per- 
sons denied  themselves,  or  were  denied  by  their  par- 
ents, the  use  of  things  that  were  in  themselves  per- 
fectly lawful,  as,  for  example,  wine.  In  effect  this  was 
laying  one's  self  under,  or  being  laid  under,  an  inter- 

*  Ex.  xx.  12;  xxi.  17. 


RELATION  TO  TRADITION  AND  LEGALISM.         59 

diet  not  to  use  the  prohibited  articles.  Out  of  these 
negative  rules  the  Rabbis  developed  what  is  known  as 
the  "Corban  system,"  according  to  which  "a  man 
might  interdict  himself  by  vow,  not  only  from  using 
for  himself,  but  from  giving  to  another,  or  receiving 
from  him,  some  particular  object,  whether  of  food  or 
any  other  kind  whatsoever.  The  thing  thus  interdicted 
was  considered  as  Corban,  and  the  form  of  interdiction 
was  virtually  to  this  effect :  'I  forbid  myself  to  touch, 
or  be  concerned  in  any  way  with  the  thing  forbidden, 
as  if  it  were  devoted  by  law,  that  is,  let  it  be  Corban.'  ' 
"A -person  might  thus  exempt  himself  from  assisting, 
or  receiving  assistance  from,  some  particular  person  or 
persons,  as  parents  in  distress;  and  in  short  from  any 
inconvenient  obligation  under  plea  of  Corban,  though 
by  a  legal  fiction  he  was  allowed  to  suspend  the  re- 
striction in  certain  cases."  *  Corban  means  "gift," 
and  the  name  was  given  to  the  gift-treasury.  The 
person  uttering  the  word,  it  appears,  might  obtain  a 
dispensation  permitting  him  to  devote  the  thing  de- 
clared a  gift  to  his  own  uses;  or  if  not,  the  one  act 
exempted  him  from  further  payment  on  account  of 
his  father.  It  does  not  appear  that  the  Corban  sys- 
tem had  an  exclusive  relation  to  the  Jew's  duties  to 
his  parents,  or  that  it  was  invented  for  the  purpose  of 
enabling  him  to  shun  those  duties.  It  was  rather  a 
development,  general  in  character,  that  proceeded 
along  its  own  lines,  and  that  came  into  conflict  with 
the  Law  in  relation  to  parents,  as  it  were,  accidently. 
It  is  therefore  an  excellent  illustration  of  the  way  in 
which  the  Rabbinical  method  might  abrogate  the 

*  Smith's  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,  "Corban." 


60  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

Law  itself,  although  the  men  who  invented  and  used 
that  method  never  contemplated  anything  of  the 
kind,  and  would  certainly  have  shrunk  from  it  had 
they  clearly  foreseen  its  inevitable  consequences. 
Words  are  hardly  necessary  to  show  that  such  a  sys- 
tem, sanctioned  by  the  highest  authority,  put  into  the 
hand  of  the  selfish,  the  hypocritical,  and  the  heart- 
less, would  lead  to  the  most  monstrous  results,  mak- 
ing void  not  merely  the  Law  of  Moses,  but  also  the 
law  of  natural  affection.  Farrar  justly  remarks  that 
such  an  "iniquitous  diversion  of  natural  charities  into 
the  channels  of  pious  ostentation  would  of  course 
undermine  all  parental  authority."  Apparently,  a 
man  might  in  the  same  way  avoid  paying  his  debts,  or 
excuse  himself  from  performing  any  of  the  most 
sacred  obligations  of  life.  It  is  plain  that  a  more 
tremendous  engine  of  hypocrisy  could  not  easily  be 
invented. 

Jesus  first  quotes  the  two  commandments  in  relation 
to  parents,  and  then  proceeds  to  show  how  the  Corban 
system  makes  them  both  nugatory.  In  effect  He  tells 
the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  that  any  Jew,  having  some- 
thing in  his  possession  that  his  father  or  his  mother 
may  need,  or  that  would  profit  his  parents,  and  the 
giving  of  which  to  them  would  be  comprehended  by 
the  commandment  to  honor  them,  has  only  to  say 
"Corban"  over  it,  that  is,  "it  is  a  gift  or  sacrifice  de- 
voted to  the  Temple  or  to  God,"  and  he  shall  be  free 
from  all  obligations  as  a  son  to  render  the  needed  as- 
sistance, and  shall  not  be  required,  or  even  suffered, 
to  do  anything  more  for  his  father  or  his  mother.  Jesus 
declares  that  in  this  way  the  Rabbis  have  made  the 


RELATION  TO  TRADITION  AND  LEGALISM.         61 

commandments  of  God  of  none  effect  by  their  tra- 
ditions. He  says,  moreover,  that  Isaiah's  words: 
"This  people  draweth  nigh  unto  me  with  their  mouth, 
and  honoreth  me  with  their  lips;  but  their  heart  is 
far  from  me,"  are  fulfilled  in  them.  The  further 
words  of  the  quotation,  "But  in  vain  do  they  worship 
me,  teaching  for  doctrines  the  commandments  of 
men,"  seem  to  imply  that  already,  in  the  time  of 
Isaiah,  tradition  was  beginning  to  bear  its  appropriate 
fruit.  Mark  introduces  into  the  account  these  par- 
ticulars: "Full  well  ye  reject  the  commandment  of 
God,  that  ye  may  keep  your  own  tradition,"  and 
"many  such  like  things  do  ye;"  in  other  words, 
the  nullification  of  the  Law  iri  relation  to  parents  by 
the  Corban  system  was  only  one  of  the  many  ways  in 
which  the  Law  was  set  aside. 

The  two  narratives  that  we  have  been  following  are 
of  the  deepest  interest  for  another  reason.  They 
show  how  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  demanded  that 
Jesus  should  Himself  conform,  and  require  His  dis- 
ciples to  conform,  to  the  traditions  of  the  Elders;  and 
also  how  He  caused  them  emphatically  to  understand 
that  He  would  do  nothing  of  the  kind.  He  not  only 
repels  the  particular  tradition  to  which  they  direct 
attention,  but  He  shows  how  the  Rabbinical  method 
sets  at  naught  the  very  Law  that  it  seeks  to  conserve, 
and  that  they  profess  to  reverence,  giving  the  Cor- 
ban system  as  an  example.  He  gives  only  a  single 
illustration,  but  His  condemnation  extends  to  the 
whole  method.  Nor  is  this  all.  He  calls  the  multi- 
tude to  Himself,  and  expounds  to  them  the  real  law 
in  relation  to  defilement.  Perhaps  we  shall  return  to 


62  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

this  teaching  again ;  but  we  must  not  fail  here  to  set 
down  its  conclusion  :  "To  eat  with  unwashen  hands 
defileth  not  a  man." 

The  mode  in  which  Jesus  handled  the  Sabbath 
question  of  His  day  illustrates  another  point,  and  is 
equally  marked  and  significant.  The  celebrated  epi- 
sode of  the  corn-fields  is  related  by  three  of  the  four 
Evangelists.  *  As  they  went  through  the  corn  on  the 
Sabbath,  the  hungry  disciples  began  to  pluck  some  of 
the  ears,  to  rub  out  the  kernels  in  their  hands,  and  to 
eat  them.  The  Pharisees,  ever  on  the  watch,  imme- 
diately preferred  a  charge  against  them  to  their  Mas- 
ter. This  was  not  that  they  had  taken  what  was  not 
their  own ;  in  fact  the  Law  expressly  permitted  such 
use  when  it  was  caused  by  the  cravings  of  hun- 
ger;! but  it  was  rather,  "  Behold,  thy  disciples  do 
that  which  is  not  lawful  to  do  upon  the  Sabbath 
day."  Jesus  had  already  incurred  the  charge  of  be- 
ing a  Sabbath-breaker,  and  the  incident  had  led  to 
the  plot  already  formed  to  compass  his  death,  j  The 
fourth  Commandment  was  as  express  and  definite  as 
language  could  make  it;  §  around  it  the  Rabbis  had 
woven  their  familiar  webs ;  but  the  charge,  as  they  now 
made  it,  involved  the  Law  itself  and  not  the  commen- 
tary. Jesus  does  not  stop  to  show  that  they  have 
misconceived  the  letter  of  the  Law ;  He  charges  rath- 
er that  they  are  sacrificing  its  spirit  to  the  letter; 
that  they  are  in  fact  making  an  unlawful  use  of  law. 
His  argument  consists  in  the  citation  of  precedents 
that  they  cannot  pass  by.  David  and  his  company, 

*  Matt.  xii.  1-9  ;  Mark  ii.  23-28;    Luke  vi.  1-5. 

t  Deut.  xxiii.  25.  J  John  x.  1,  16.  §  Ex.  20.  8-12. 


RELATION  TO  TRADITION  AND  LEGALISM.         63 

when  they  were  hungry,  had  entered  the  tabernacle 
and  eaten  the  shew  bread,  which  it  was  unlawful 
for  any  but  the  priests  to  eat.  The  priests  them- 
selves performed  their  official  duties  on  the  Sabbath, 
and  were  blameless,  although  the  Law  made  no  excep- 
tion in  their  favor.  Having  put  them  to  silence  with 
these  precedents,  He  gave  utterance  to  one  of  His 
most  far-reaching  teachings.  "  The  Sabbath  was 
made  for  man,  and  not  man  for  the  Sabbath.  There- 
fore, the  Son  of  Man  is  lord  also  of  the  Sabbath."  And 
so  of  other  ordinances  or  other  institutions  of  relig- 
ion. On  no  point  was  the  warfare  that  Jesus  made 
upon  Rabbinism  keener  than  at  the  point  brought  to 
our  attention  in  this  paragraph,  viz. :  the  persistent 
exaltation  by  the  Jews  of  the  letter  that  killeth  over 
the  spirit  that  giveth  life. 

From  what  an  intolerable  burden  of  puerility  and 
oppressive  observance  Jesus  sought  to  free  the  Jewish 
mind  and  life,  slight  reading  of  the  history  of  the 
Pharisees  will  suffice  to  show.  The  Law  provided, 
"  Thou  shalt  not  seethe  a  kid  in  his  mother's  milk  "; 
which  tradition  interpreted  to  mean  that  the  flesh  of 
quadrupeds,  or  even  of  fowls,  should  not  be  mixed 
with  milk  in  food  preparations,  or  be  eaten  at  the 
same  time.  It  became  a  grave  question  between  the 
schools,  whether  an  egg  laid  on  a  festival  might  be 
eaten.  The  precept  that  an  Israelite  should  "  love 
his  neighbor  as  himself,"  was  construed  to  mean  an 
Israelite  as  himself,  and  a  Jewish  midwife  was  for- 
bidden to  assist  a  heathen  woman  in  the  labors  of 
childbirth.  Such  facts  as  these  throw  light  on  the 
burdens  that  were  declared  to  be  too  heavy  for  men 


64  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

to   bear,  and  on  the  bondage  to  the  elements  of   the 
world  that  were  described  as  weak  and  beggarly. 

NOTE. — The  phrase  "unlawful  use  of  law''  seems  paradox- 
ical. Paul  suggests  it, '  'But  we  know  the  law  is  good,  if  a  man 
•use  it  lawfully."  1  Tim.  i.  8.  See  F.  W.  Robertson's  ser- 
mon, "The  Lawful  and  the  Unlawful  Use  of  Law, ' '  based  on 
that  text.  A  question  had  arisen  at  Ephesus  concerning  the  re- 
lation of  the  Christian  believers  to  Jewish  rites.  '  'He  does  not, 
like  a  vehement  polemic ,  say  Jewish  ceremonies  and  rules  are 
all  worthless,  nor  some  ceremonies  are  worthless  and  others  es- 
sential ;  but  he  says  the  root  of  the  whole  matter  is  charity.  If 
you  turn  aside  from  this ,  all  is  lost;  here  at  once  the  contro- 
versy closes .  So  far  as  any  rule  fosters  the  spirit  of  love ,  that 
is,  is  used  lawfully,  it  is  wise,  and  has  a  use.  So  far  as  it  does 
not ,  it  is  chaff .  So  far  as  it  hinders  it ,  it  is  poison . 

'  'Now  observe  how  different  this  method  is  from  that  which 
is  called  the  sober,  moderate  way — the  via  media.  Some  would 
have  said,  the  great  thing  is  to  avoid  extremes.  If  the  question 
respects  fasting,  fast  only  in  moderation;  if  the  observance  of 
the  sabbath  day,  observe  it  on  the  Jewish  principle,  only  not  so 
strictly. 

"St.  Paul,  on  the  contrary,  went  down  to  the  root ;  he  said, 
The  true  question  is  not  whether  the  law  is  good  or  bad ,  but  on 
what  principle  ;  he  said,  You  are  both  wrong — you,  in  saying 
that  the  observance  of  the  law  is  essential,  for  the  end  of  it  is 
charity,  and  if  that  begot,  what  matter  how;  you,  in  saying 
rules  may  be  dispensed  with  entirely  and  always,  'for  we  know 
that  the  law  is  good. '  ' ' 

So  far  as  the  lesson  is  concerned,  it  matters  not  whether  the 
Apostle  refers  to  the  Mosaic  Law  or  to  law  in  its  essence,  that 
is,  the  principle  of  constraint. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

HOW  JESUS    USED   THE   SCRIPTURES. 

NEVER  since  the  Western  world  first  accepted  the 
Hebrew  and  the  Greek  Scriptures  as  the  supreme  and 
final  source  of  religious  truth,  have  those  books  been 
the  subject  of  so  much  inquiry  as  to-day.  The  critics 
cast  forth  theory  after  theory  to  account  for  their 
origin  and  to  explain  their  nature.  Slowly  but  surely 
apologists  change  the  direction  of  the  lines  of  defense 
that  they  throw  up  about  them.  Slowly  but  surely 
preachers  modify  the  methods  in  which  they  use  them 
in  preaching  and  teaching.  Slowly  but  surely  Chris- 
tian scholars  change  their  ideas  of  Biblical  inspira- 
tion and  Biblical  authority.  More  and  more  the  most 
cultivated  Christian  people  seek  for  the  real  grounds 
of  faith,  and  for  the  best  ideas  as  to  the  uses  and 
authority  of  Scripture.  Meanwhile  the  printing 
presses  print  the  books,  and  the  depositories  and 
bookstores  sell  them,  in  unexampled  quantities, 
while  they  are  read  by  constantly  increasing  numbers 
of  people.  These  facts  are  an  abundant  justification 
for  examining  somewhat  carefully  the  way  in  which 
Jesus,  the  incomparable  master  of  religious  method, 
used  the  Jewish  Scriptures.  In  so  doing,  I  hope  to 
render  at  least  a  small  service  to  some  sincere  and 

earnest  students. 

5  (65) 


66  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

The  common  orthodox  opinion  of  to-day  is  that 
the  writings  which  we  call  sometimes  The  Old  Testa- 
ment and  sometimes  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  were  all 
originally  considered  of  equal  value  and  authority. 
Such,  however,  was  not  the  understanding  of  the 
ancient  Jews.  The  New  Testament  recognizes  a 
three-fold  division  of  these  writings:  The  Law,  the 
Prophets  and  the  Psalms.*  Moreover  the  Jewish 
theory  was  that  the  Law  of  Moses — the  Torah — con- 
tained the  whole  revelation  of  God's  goodness  and 
grace  which  had  been  given,  or  that  could  be  given; 
it  "was  accounted  the  pre-existent  and  eternal  law, 
comprising  within  itself  the  sum  of  all  wisdom  and  all 
possible  revelation."  The  Prophets  and  the  Psalms, 
and  the  whole  Hagiography,  were  regarded  only  as 
"inspired -and  authoritative  interpretations  of  the 
Law  of  Moses,  and  nothing  more."  They  were  his- 
tory, tradition,  literature.  The  Pentateuch  was 
styled  "five-fifths  of  the  Law;"  it  alone  was 
accounted  "reading"  or  Scripture;  and  the  Jews, 
such  was  the  hold  of  formal  legality  upon  their 
minds,  never  suffered  the  Law  and  the  Prophets  to 
be  written  upon  the  same  roll,  while  money  received 
for  a  copy  of  the  Law  might  not  be  used  to  purchase 

*  This  division  corresponded  in  general  to  the  arrangement  of  the  Jewish 
Canon  in  its  final  form,  viz:  1.  The  Pentateuch  or  Law.  2.  The  Prophets, 
including  (1)  the  Earlier  Prophets,  Joshua,  Judges,  Samuel,  and  Kings,  and 
(2)  the  Later  Prophets,  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  Ezekiel,  and  the  twelve  Minor 
Prophets  considered  as  one  book.  3.  The  Hagiography  (literally,  "Sacred 
Books,")  Psalms,  Proverbs,  and  Job;  Canticles,  Ruth,  Lamentations,  Ec- 
clesiastes,  and  Esther;  Daniel,  Ezra,  Nehemiah,  and  Chronicles.  The 
Prophets,  the  Psalms,  and  the  rest  of  The  Old  Testament,  in  common  with  the 
oral  tradition  of  the  Scribes,  are  mere  kabbala  or  traditional  doctrine.  See 
Professor  Robertson  Smith's  well  known  work,  The  Old  Testament  in  the 
Jewish  Church,  Lecture  VI. 


HOW  JESUS  USED  THE  SCRIPTURES.  67 

a  copy  of  the  Prophets  or  the  Psalms.  However, 
those  remarkable  writings  together  constituted  a 
national  literature  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  word . 
They  were  the  peculiar  strength,  glory,  mark,  and 
permanence  of  the  nation.  The  Lawgiver,  while  liv- 
ing before  most  of  them  were  written,  took  good  care 
to  secure  the  continued  ascendency  of  these  writings, 
and  the  teaching  of  the  national  history.  Never  were 
the  youth  of  a  nation  brought  up  more  exclusively, 
or  more  thoroughly,  on  the  national  literature  and 
history  than  the  Jewish  youth.  This  is  the  source 
of  the  remarkable  patriotism  that  has  characterized 
Israel.  This  feature  of  the  subject,  however,  has 
been  dealt  with  in  a  previous  chapter.  * 

Jehovah  was  thus  the  center  both  of  the  Jewish 
Law  and  of  Jewish  education.  Faith  in  Him  was  the 
source  of  the  national  discipline.  The  strength  and 
glory  promised  as  rewards  for  obedience,  and  the 
weakness  and  disaster  threatened  as  penalties  for  dis- 
obedience, no  doubt  implied  the  direct  intervention  of 
the  Most  High  in  the  course  of  history;  but  they  can 
in  great  part  be  explained  on  rational  grounds. 

Coming  to  closer  quarters  with  our  subject,  one  fact 
that  is  sometimes  overlooked,  and  still  more  fre- 
quently undervalued,  must  be  set  out  in  the  strongest 
and  clearest  light.  The  Jewish  Scriptures,  like  the 
Greek  Scriptures,  are  practical  in  character;  their 
end  is  ethical.  It  may  be  said  of  them  all,  as  John 
said  of  his  Gospel  in  a  specific  sense,  "These  are 
written  that  ye  might  believe."  Sacred  history  is 
something  quite  different  from  secular  history.  Its 

*  See  Chap.  iii. 


68  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

aim  is  not  the  enlargement  of  the  understanding.  Its 
motive  is  not  the  gratification  of  an  intelligent  curi- 
osity. It  looks  to  faith  and  life.  The  historical 
books  of  The  Old  Testament  are  the  history  of  God's 
dealings  with  the  antediluvians,  with  the  patriarchs, 
with  the  Chosen  People.  The  Mosaic  Law  is  a  relig- 
ious code  that  seeks  to  regulate  the  whole  life  in  statu- 
tory terms,  and  it  is  impossible  to  imagine  a  more  prac- 
tical body  of  instruction.  The  Prophets  are  still  more 
religious.  Foretelling — prophecy  as  commonly  un- 
derstood— holds  a  subordinate  place  in  these  books. 
Still  more,  such  as  there  is  relates  mainly  to  the 
prophetic  nation.  Not  often  does  the  vision  of  the 
prophet  rest  directly  upon  the  distant  horizon  of  the 
world.  And  so  with  the  Wisdom  literature  and  the 
Psalms.  Finally,  whatever  may  be  the  true  theory  of 
poetry,  there  is  no  room  for  question  as  to  the  He- 
brew theory.  Never  for  a  moment  did  an  Israelite 
indeed  look  upon  the  national  poetry  as  being  prima- 
rily works  of  literary  art.  The  national  poems  were 
the  Songs  of  Zion.  In  one  significant  saying  Jesus 
suggests  this  unity  of  purpose,  and  also  illustrates  the 
Hebrew  use  of  the  words  "prophesy"  and  "prophecy : " 
"For  all  the  prophets  and  the  Law  prophesied  until 
John."* 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  Jews,  in  classifying 
The  Old  Testament  books,  did  not  recognize  any  dis- 
tinction between  history  and  prophecy;  they  grouped 
the  two  classes  of  books  together  under  the  head  of 
"The  Prophets."  This  fact  is  significant,  for  it 
shows  that  the  Jews  regarded  the  two  classes  of  books 

*  Matt.  xi.  13. 


s*&          ^x^ 

HOW  JESUS  USED  THE  SCRIPTURES.  69 

as  having  one  fundamental  object,  viz.,  to  teach  relig- 
ion; and  in  this  they  were  right.  We  shall  never 
understand  The  Old  Testament  writers — and  par- 
ticularly the  Prophets — until  we  conceive  of  them  as 
preachers  and  teachers  above  all  else,  some  in  prose 
and  some  in  verse.  A  better  account  of  the  spirit  of 
The  Old  Testament  could  not  possibly  have  been  given 
than  the  one  that  Paul  gave  to  Timothy:  "  All  Scrip- 
ture is  given  by  inspiration  of  God,  and  is  profitable 
for  doctrine,  for  reproof,  for  correction,' for  instruc- 
tion in  righteousness :  that  the  man  of  God  may  be 
perfect,  thoroughly  furnished  unto  all  good  works."* 
Such  being  the  Jew's  view  of  the  Scriptures,  he 
would  never  subject  them,  and  could  never  subject 
them,  to  critical  inquiry  or  to  historical  investigation. 
He  was  a  thorough  Oriental  in  mind,  and  the  Oriental 
mind  is  anything  but  scientific.  The  whole  cycle  of 
Sacred  Books  preached  and  taught,  and  the  Jew  re- 
garded them  as  instruments  of  preaching  and  teach- 
ing. "The  Greek  words  which  designated  belief  or 
faith,"  says  Dr.  Hatch,  "are  used  in  The  Old  Testa- 
ment chiefly  in  the  sense  of  trust,  and  primarily  trust 
in  a  person.  They  expressed  confidence  in  his  good- 
ness, his  veracity,  his  uprightness.  They  are  as  much 
moral  as  intellectual.  They  implied  an  estimate  of 
character.  Their  use  in  application  to  God  was  not 
different  from  their  use  in  application  to  men.  Abra- 
ham trusted  God.  The  Israelites  also  trusted  God 
when  they  saw  the  Egyptians  dead  upon  the  seashore. 
In  the  first  instance  there  was  just  so  much  of  intel- 
lectual assent  involved  in  belief,  that  to  believe  God 

*  2  Tim.  ill.  16, 17. 


70  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

involved  an  assent  to  the  proposition  that  God  exists. 
But  this  element  was  latent  and  implied  rather  than 
conscious  and  expressed."*  Greece  created  the  intel- 
lect that  has  critically  investigated  the  literature 
which  Judea  produced. 

Jesus  occupied  in  general  the  same  attitude 
towards  the  Scriptures.  He  was  not  a  higher  critic. 
He  was  not  a  critic  of  any  kind  or  name.  In  this  re- 
gard He  was  as  thoroughly  Jewish  as  the  Jew  was 
thoroughly  Oriental.  From  first  to  last,  there  is  not 
an  intimation  of  scientific  method  in  His  teaching. 
He  accepted  the  Scriptures  as  His  countrymen  ac- 
cepted them,  and  applied  them  to  similar  purposes. 
In  this  respect,  again,  He  was  a  true  son  of  Israel. 
The  whole  cycle  of  Sacred  Books  He  accepted  as  of 
divine  origin.  He  actually  did  what  the  Rabbis  pro- 
fessed to  do,  but  failed  to  do,  owing  to  their  equal  or 
higher  reverence  for  tradition.  Furthermore,  He  ac- 
cepted the  primary  fact  of  revelation  without  any 
inquiry,  so  far  as  the  reports  show,  into  the  secondary 
causes  concerned  in  making  it.  He  had  nothing  to 
say  about  method,  and  propounded  no  theory  of  in- 
spiration. What  Dr.  Hatch  says  of  a  single  discourse 
is  true  of  all  His  teaching.  "The  Sermon  on  the 
Mount  is  the  promulgation  of  a  new  law  of  conduct; 
it  assumes  beliefs  rather  than  formulates  them;  the 
theological  conceptions  which  underlie  it  belong  to  the 
ethical  rather  than  the  speculative  side  of  theology; 
metaphysics  are  wholly  absent,  "t  This  emphatic  in- 
sistence upon  the  central  fact,  viz.,  that  Jesus's  pur- 

*  The  Influence  of  Greek  Ideas  and  Usages  upon  the  Christian  Church, 
Lecture  XI.  t  Ibid,  Lecture  I. 


HOW  JESUS  USED  THE  SCRIPTURES.  71 

pose  was  ethical  rather  than  speculative  or  theological, 
is  necessary  to  put  us  in  right  relation  with  the  sub- 
ject. At  the  same  time,  the  fact  that  He  never  inves- 
tigated the  sources  of  the  books  that  He  used  as  in- 
struments of  teaching,  can  be  no  reason  why  we 
should  not  do  so. 

The  use  that  Jesus  made  of  the  Scriptures  presents 
the  following  interesting  aspects : 

I.  He  always  speaks  of  them  with  perfect  respect 
and  reverence.  He  declared  in  the  best  known  of 
His  public  addresses:  "  Think  not  that  I  am  come  to 
destroy  the  Law  or  the  Prophets :  I  am  not  come  to 
destroy,  but  to  fulfill.  For  verily  I  say  unto  you,  Till 
heaven  and  earth  pass,  one  jot  or  one  tittle  shall  in  no 
wise  pass  from  the  Law,  till  all  be  fulfilled.  Whoso- 
ever therefore  shall  break  one  of  these  least  com- 
mandments, and  shall  teach  men  so,  he  shall  be  called 
the  least  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven :  but  whosoever 
shall  do  and  teach  them,  the  same  shall  be  called  great 
in  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  *  This  passage  is  a  strik- 
ing one  in  two  particulars.  It  recognizes  the  pres- 
ent authority  of  the  Law  in  its  full  integrity;  it 
implies  that  it  will  be  fulfilled  or  come  to  an  end,  and 
that  this  fulfillment  consists  in  its  development  into 
another  system.  Fulfillment  of  the  Law  is  a  subject 
about  which  He  has  much  to  say.  In  this  sense,  as  in 
some  others,  He  is  an  evolutionist.  One  of  the  most 
interesting  historical  aspects  under  which  Christianity 
can  be  viewed  is  as  an  outgrowth  of  Judaism.  At  the 
heart,  it  is  a  question  of  the  relation  of  Jesus  to 
Moses. 

*  Matt.  v.  17-19. 


72  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

II.  He  quotes  the  Holy  Books  freely  in  the  course 
of  His  teachings.     Sometimes  He  points  out  the  ful- 
fillment of  a  prophecy;  sometimes  applies  a  portion 
of  the  Law  or  other  Scripture  to  some  practical  ques- 
tion ;  sometimes  explains  the  true  meaning  of  a  com- 
mandment or  other  passage,  and  sometimes  quotes  to 
confute  a  gainsayer  or  discomfit  an  opponent.    Script- 
ure furnishes  the   basis  of   His   teaching.     The   lan- 
guage of  the  Sacred  Writers  had  so  passed  into  the 
religious  vocabulary  of  the  times,  the  current  methods 
of  quotation  were  so  loose  and  inaccurate,  and  quota- 
tion and  allusion  are  so  blended,  that  it  is  impossible 
to  say  how  many  distinct  recognitions  of  Scripture  are 
found  in  His  teachings,  but  the  number  and  range  are 
both  large. 

III.  While  Jesus  always  speaks  of  the  Scriptures 
with  deepest  respect,  and  charges  the  Rabbis  with  set- 
ting them  at  naught,  He  nevertheless  handles  them 
in  a  free  and  liberal  spirit.     Not  only  does  He  break 
down  the  "  fences  ".  that  the  Rabbis  have  set  about 
the  Law,  tear  them   to   shreds,  and   trample  them 
under  His  feet,  but  He  treats  the  Law  itself  with  a 
freedom  and  originality  that  fill  them  with  terror.    In 
spiritualizing  the  Law,  He  goes  farther  than  even  the 
boldest  of  the  prophets  had  gone.     His  method  ap- 
pears in  many  particulars.     One  of  the  most  interest- 
ing of  these  is  His  constant  habit  of  expanding  Script- 
ure, or,  as  we  might  say,  of  reading  into  it  new  mean- 
ings.    He  thus  treats  not  merely  prophetic  passages, 
but  also  dogmatic  passages ;  moreover,  His  meanings 
are  sometimes  new,  not  merely  to  the  Jewish  teachers, 
but  also  to  the  authors  of  the  passages  themselves. 


HOW  JESUS  USED  THE  SCRIPTURES.  73 

He  reads  into  passages  of  the  Law  senses  that  the 
Lawgiver  had  never  intended,  thus  showing  that 
Moses  had  builded  better  than  he  knew.  For  exam- 
ple, there  are  the  incomparable  expansions  of  the  old 
teaching  found  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.*  Six 
subjects  does  He  here  treat  in  His  own  inimitable 
manner. 

Moses  had  said,  "  Thou  shalt  not  kill,"  and  to  this 
the  Kabbis  had  added,  "  Whosoever  shall  kill  shall  be 
in  danger  of  the  judgment."  Jesus  quotes  these  say- 
ings, and  then  proceeds  to  show  that  murder  does  not 
consist  in  the  act  of  killing,  but  rather  in  the  state  of 
the  heart.  "But  I  say  unto  you,  That  whosoever  is 
angry  with  his  brother  without  a  cause  shall  be  in 
danger  of  the  judgment:  and  whosoever  shall  say  to 
his  brother,  Raca,  shall  be  in  danger  of  the  council: 
but  whosoever  shall  say,  Thou  fool,  shall  be  in  dan- 
ger of  hell  fire."  Moses  had  also  said,  "  Thou  shalt 
not  commit  adultery,"  and  this  Jesus  changed  into  the 
following:  "Whosoever  looketh  on  a  woman  to  lust 
after  her  hath  committed  adultery  with  her  already  in 
his  heart."  The  Lawgiver  had  said  that  for  unclean- 
ness  the  husband  might  put  away  his  wife,  provid- 
ing: "Whosoever  shall  put  away  his  wife,  let 
him  give  her  a  writing  of  divorcement."  The  Rab- 
bis, by  their  comments  on  uncleanness,  had  resolved 
the  Mosaic  statute  into  an  almost  universal  license  of 
divorce.  The  most  shocking  violations  of  the  mar- 
riage contract  were  of  frequent  occurrence.  Jesus 
not  only  cut  away  the  later  tradition,  but  He  expanded 
the  original  law  by  making  fornication  the  only  ground 

*  Matt  v.  21-48. 


74  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

for  divorce.  He  touched  the  subject  more  than  once ; 
He  declared  that  Moses  had  made  his  legislation  lax 
because  of  the  hardness  of  the  Jewish  heart,  but  that 
the  original  law,  which  dated  from  the  creation,  and 
which  He  reaffirmed,  was  of  a  more  stringent  charac- 
ter.* In  the  fourth  place  he  treated  in  the  same 
spirit  the  blending  of  law  and  tradition  that  regulated 
the  subject  of  oaths.  Then  in  many  cases  the  law 
recognized  the  principle  of  jus  talionis;  "eye  for  eye, 
tooth  for  tooth,  hand  for  hand,  foot  for  foot,  burning 
for  burning,  wound  for  wound,  stripe  for  stripe,  "t  All 
this  Jesus  swept  away.  He  commanded  not  to  resist 
evil,  but  to  recompense  it  with  good.  Finally,  to  the 
command  that  Moses  had  given,  "  Thou  shalt  love  thy 
neighbor,"  which  meant  the  Jew,  the  Rabbis  had 
added  the  gloss,  "  Hate  thine  enemy,"  or  the  Gentile. 
Jesus  sweeps  away  the  gloss  and  goes  far  beyond 
Moses  himself.  "  Love  your  enemies,  bless  them  that 
curse  you,  do  good  to  them  that  hate  you,  and  pray 
for  them  which  despitefully  use  you  and  persecute 
you;  that  ye  may  be  the  children  of  your  Father 
which  is  in  heaven :  for  he  maketh  His  sun  to  rise  on 
the  evil  and  on  the  good,  and  sendeth  rain  on  the  just 
and  on  the  unjust." 

Still  another  reference  may  be  made.  Should  any 
one  question  whether  Jesus  gave  the  Law  a  new  shap- 
ing, or  read  into  the  commandments  a  new  meaning, 
let  him  consider  his  treatment  of  the  Sabbath.  In 
nothing  was  the  Mosaic  teaching  more  express  and 
definite,  more  absolute  and  unqualified,  than  in  refer- 
ence to  the  Holy  Day.  The  inquirer  searches  the 

*  Mark  x.  2-12.  t  Exod.  xxi.  24,  25. 


HOW  JESUS  USED  THE  SCRIPTURES.  75 

statutes  of  the  Lawgiver  in  vain  for  any  recognition, 
or  even  intimation,  of  the  invaluable  principle,  "The 
Sabbath  was  made  for  man,  and  not  man  for  the 
Sabbath." 

Thus  did  Jesus  expand  old  texts.  Thus  did  He  pour 
into  the  old  bottles  the  new  wine.  Thus  did  He  spir- 
itualize the  Jewish  Law.  We  have  a  striking  proof  of 
the  strength  of  His  touch  in  the  fact  that  His  new 
commandments  have  superseded  the  old  ones. 

We  have  seen  that  the  Rabbis  put  the  Prophets  and 
the  Psalms  far  below  the  Law.  This  marks  their 
exaltation  of  literalism  and  legalism  above  the  spirit 
and  life.  Jesus  does  nothing  of  the  kind.  He  treats 
all  the  books  that  He  quotes  with  equal  respect  and 
reverence,  but,  being  Himself  a  prophet,  He  intui- 
tively recognizes  the  superiority  of  the  prophetic 
spirit  to  the  legal  spirit.  He  handles  the  Law  as  the 
Prophets  had  handled  it;  He  strives  to  bring  to  the 
surface  the  principles  on  which  its  commands  and 
observances  rest,  that  is,  to  spiritualize  the  Law.* 

IV.  Jesus  always  quotes  the  Scriptures  with  a 
teaching  purpose  in  view,  either  positive  or  negative. 

*  Prof.  Smith  declares  that  the  Jewish  view  of  the  superiority  of  the  Law 
cannot  be  accepted  by  a  Christian.  "It  was  refuted,  once  for  all,  by  the 
Apostle  Paul  when  he  pointed  out,  in  answer  to  the  Pharisees  of  his  time, 
that  the  permanent  value  of  all  revelation  lies,  not  in  Law,  but  in  Gospel. 
Now  it  is  certain  that  the  prophetical  books  are  far  richer  than  the  Law  in 
evangelical  elements.  They  contain  a  much  fuller  declaration  of  those  spir- 
itual truths  which  constitute  the  permanent  value  of  the  Old  Testament  reve- 
lation, and  a  much  clearer  adumbration  of  the  New  and  Spiritual  Covenant 
under  which  we  now  live.  There  is  more  of  Christ  in  the  Prophets  and  the 
Psalrns  than  in  the  Pentateuch,  with  its  legal  ordinances  and  temporary  pre- 
cepts adapted  to  the  hardness  of  the  people's  hearts;  and  therefore  no  Chris- 
tian can  for  a  moment  consent  to  accept  that  view  of  the  pre-eminence  of  the 
Law,  which  was  to  the  Jews  the  foundation  of  their  official  doctrine  of  the 
canon."— Lecture  VI. 


76  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

Still  His  direct  object  changes  with  time,  place,  and 
circumstances.  It  will  answer  our  purpose  to 
describe  two  classes  of  quotations. 

Sometimes  He  quotes  a  passage  as  an  argument, 
some  fact  or  saying.  He  quotes  Moses,  the  Prophets, 
or  the  Psalms  to  fortify  some  position,  as  we  would 
say.  Matt.  xxii.  41-46  is  an  example.  Reference  may 
also  be  made  to  the  numerous  citations  from  the 
Prophets  to  prove  His  Messiahship.  In  dealing  with 
this  subject  we  must  always  remember  one  great 
change  that  time  has  worked:  Jesus  has  changed 
places  with  the  Lawgiver  and  the  Prophets.  He  and 
His  first  disciples  went  to  The  Old  Testament  writers 
for  witness  to  Him;  we  go  to  Him  for  witness  to 
them. 

We  are  now  in  a  position  to  understand  why  it  is 
that  Jesus  makes  a  larger,  and  particularly  a  sharper 
and  more  dogmatic,  use  of  the  Scriptures  in  His  con- 
troversies than  He  does  in  ordinary  teaching.  Most 
of  these  controversies  were  with  the  Rabbis.  The 
Rabbis  professed  to  reverence  Scripture,  while  in  fact 
making  it  null  and  void;  and  He  delighted,  if  we  may 
use  the  expression,  to  show  how  ignorant  they  were, 
or  how  regardless  of  its  teachings.  His  great  object 
was  to  vindicate  the  truth,  and  to  rescue  it  from  the 
hands  of  those  who  perverted  it;  but  to  do  this  in- 
volved a  concrete  personal  element.  The  Rabbis  sat 
in  Moses's  seat,  and  taught  with  the  authority  that  the 
position  gave  them ;  they  were  the  representatives  of 
the  national  religion  and  the  guides  of  the  people; 
they  prided  themselves  above  measure  upon  their 
learning  and  piety.  They  set  " fences"  about  the 


HOW  JESUS  USED  THE  SCRIPTURES.  77 

Law,  and  declared  all  men  who  did  not  know  the  Law 
accursed;  they  bound  heavy  burdens  and  grievous  to 
be  borne,  and  laid  them  upon  men's  shoulders;  they 
made  broad  their  phylacteries  and  enlarged  the  bor- 
ders of  their  garments;  they  loved  the  uppermost 
rooms  at  feasts,  the  chief  seats  in  synagogues,  greet- 
ings in  the  markets,  and  to  be  called  Rabbi,  Rabbi. 
They  were  blind  leaders  of  the  blind;  and  the  progress 
of  truth  required  that  Jesus  should  expose  their  pride, 
their  hypocrisy,  and  their  ignorance.  They  were  His 
antagonists,  and  He  must  overwhelm  them.  Hence 
the  vigor  with  which  He  exposed  their  pretensions  to 
superior  knowledge  and  wisdom.  He  often  demanded, 
and  especially  when  they  had  been  charging  Him  or 
His  disciples  with  some  violation  of  tradition  or  of 
the  Law,  "  Have  ye  not  read?  "  following  up  the 
question  with  some  reference  or  quotation  that,  if 
they  had  known  or  regarded  it,  would  have  saved 
them  from  their  mistake.*  Thus  He  said  to  those 
who  complained  about  His  disciples'  plucking  the  ears 
of  corn  on  the  Sabbath,  "If  ye  had  known  what  this 
meaneth,  I  will  have  mercy  and  not  sacrifice,  ye  would 
not  have  condemned  the  guiltless. "t  It  is  impossible 
to  read  these  thrusts,  the  point  of  which  we  wholly 
miss  unless  we  take  all  the  facts  into  account,  without 
thinking  of  the  effect  with  which  the  great  Athenian 
teacher  used  his  irony  on  a  class  of  men  having  some 
points  of  likeness  to  the  Rabbis,  and  of  the  similar 
result. 

More  frequently,  and  particularly  in  His  ordinary 

*  Matt.  xii.  3;  xix.  4;  xxi.  16,  42;  xxii.  31;  Mark  ii.  25;  xii.  10,  26. 
t  Matt.  xii.  1,  7. 


78  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

discourses,  the  purpose  of  Jesus  in  quoting  Scripture 
is  not  argumentative  or  probative  at  all,  or  at  least 
not  dogmatic.  It  is  rather  moral,  and  in  these  cases 
His  handling  is  marked  by  all  the  freedom  of  the 
spirit.  He  quotes  passages  that  commend  themselves 
to  men's  spiritual  sense, — passages  that  "  find  men," 
and  so  carry  their  own  authority  with  them.  He  does 
not  quote  them  because  they  are  better  statements  of 
truth  than  His  own  would  be,  but  because  they  are 
well  known,  and  because,  coming  from  revered  sources, 
they  carry  with  them  an  associated  force,  sentiment,  or 
beauty  that  cannot  belong  to  any  words  newly  spoken. 
It  is  impossible  not  to  recognize  in  these  quotations  a 
large  literary  or  rhetorical  factor.  He  aims  to  illus- 
trate and  to  enforce  truth,  and  resorts  to  the  same 
methods  that  other  teachers  use  for  that  purpose. 
His  object  is  to  point  a  moral,  if  not  to  adorn  a  tale. 
Some  of  His  quotations  from  the  Prophets,  if  not  in- 
deed the  larger  number  of  them,  come  under  this 
head.  He  does  not  quote  them  so  much  to  prove  dis- 
puted points  of  doctrine  or  of  history  as  to  render 
more  effective  His  own  teaching.  Sometimes  it  is  a 
mere  allusion,  and  not  a  quotation  at  nil. 

For  example,  He  capped  the  climax  of  His  refu- 
tation of  the  Corban  system  with  the  words:  "  Ye 
hypocrites,  well  did  Isiiiuh  prophesy  of  you,  saying, 
This  people  draweth  nigh  unto  me  with  their  mouth, 
and  honoreth  me  with  their  lips;  but  their  heart  is 
far  from  me.  But  in  vain  do  they  worship  me,  teach- 
ing for  doctrines  the  commandments  of  men."  *  "We 
are  not  to  suppose  that  Isaiah  had  primarily  in  mind 

*  Matt.  xv.  7,9. 


HOW  JESUS  USED  THE  SCRIPTURES.  79 

the  particular  men  whom  Jesus  is  now  addressing; 
the  language  and  all  the  circumstances  attending  the 
utterance  of  the  prophecy  forbid  absolutely  such  a 
supposition.  Nor,  secondly,  is  it  probable  that  the 
prophet  had  these  men  in  mind  at  all.  The  Speaker's 
Commentary  thus  analyzes  Isaiah  xxix.,  in  which  the 
passage  is  found:  "  1.  In  verses  1-6  the  prophet 
paints  the  humiliation  of  literal  Zion  in  the  presence 
of  her  enemies,  and  then  in  verse  7  passes  suddenly  to 
the  overthrow  of  those  enemies  (whoever  they  may 
be).  2.  In  verses  9-17  he  tells  the  worldly  Jews  that 
they  must  be  punished  as  God's  enemies.  3.  In  verses 
18-24  he  shows  what  the  effect  of  this  punishment 
would  be.  The  chaff  would  be  scattered  away,  and 
the  true  Israel  come  forth  to  view."  Undoubtedly 
the  prophet  was  preaching  to  the  people  immediately 
before  him.  Still  Dean  Alford's  words  are  perfectly 
true:  "The  portion  of  Isaiah  from  which  this  cita- 
tion is  made  (Chaps,  xxiv.-xxxv.)  sets  forth,  in  alter- 
nate threatenings  and  promises,  the  punishment  of 
the  mere  nominal  Israel,  and  the  salvation  of  the  true 
Israel  of  God.  And,  as  so  often  in  the  prophetic 
word,  its  threats  and  promises  are  for  all  times  of  the 
Church — the  particular  event  then  foretold  being  but 
one  fulfillment  of  those  deeper  and  more  general 
declarations  of  God,  which  shall  be  ever  having  their 
successive  illustrations  in  His  dealings  with  men."  A 
third  writer  puts  the  case  thus:  "  The  traditionalists 
(Scribes  and  Pharisees)  to  whom  Jesus  speaks,  were 
open  to  the  same  charge  as  Isaiah's  contemporaries; 
their  reverence  for  the  oral  tradition  had  blinded  them 
to  the  deeper  spirit  and  meaning  of  the  Law.  Jesus, 


80  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

like  Isaiah,  attacks  the  men  and  the  opinions  that 
were  held  in  highest  regard  by  the  people  in  His 
day."*  The  prophetic  denunciation  was  equally 
suited  to  the  traditionalists  whom  Jesus  addressed  and 
to  the  traditionalists  whom  Isaiah  addressed;  more- 
over, it  is  equally  suited  to  traditionalists  at  all  times 
and  in  all  places,  Christians  as  well  as  Jews,  ministers 
as  well  as  Rabbis.  Isaiah  did  not  prophesy  of  men 
who  rendered  lip-service  in  the  time  and  country  of 
Jesus  any  more  than  he  prophesied  of  those  who 
render  lip-service  in  our  time  and  country. 

Another  example  of  quotation  made  by  way  of 
application  or  illustration,  and  a  very  interesting  one, 
is  found  in  Matt.  xiii.  14,  15:  "And  in  them  is  ful- 
filled the  prophecy  of  Isaiah,  which  saith,  By  hearing 
ye  shall  hear,  and  shall  not  understand ;  and  seeing  ye 
shall  see,  and  shall  not  perceive;  for  this  people's 
heart  is  waxed  gross,  and  their  ears  are  dull  of  hearing, 
and  their  eyes  they  have  closed;  lest  at  any  time  they 
should  see  with  their  eyes,  and  hear  with  their  ears, 
and  should  understand  with  their  heart,  and  should 
be  converted,  and  I  should  heal  them."  Isaiah  had 
used  this  language  with  immediate  reference  to  his 
country  and  his  time.  What  he  said  is  perpetually 
true,  and  is  therefore  of  universal  application  under 
similar  circumstances.  In  Isaiah's  time,  in  the  time 
of  Jesus,  and  in  our  own  time,  we  meet  men  who  do 
not  hear  in  hearing  or  see  in  seeing,  but  are  gross  of 
heart,  and  so  are  not  converted  and  are  not  healed ; 
but  it  can  not  be  shown  that  there  is  anything  in  the 
passage  which  makes  it  more  applicable  to  the  time 

*  Toy:  Quotations  in  the  New  Testament,  p.  44. 


HOW  JESUS  USED  THE  SCRIPTURES.  81 

of  Jesus  than  to  our  own  time,  unless,  indeed,  this  class 
of  men  was  relatively  larger  or  more  perverse  then 
than  now. 

The  various  formulae  of  quotation  found  in  the 
Gospels,  "That  it  might  be  fulfilled,"  "Thus  it  is 
written,"  "That  it  might  be  fulfilled  that  was  spoken 
of  by  the  prophet,"  etc.,  have  provoked  much  con- 
troversy. Into  these  discussions  it  is  needless  here  to 
enter.  It  is  obvious  that  just  what  they  mean  is  a 
difficult  question ;  that  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose 
that  they  always  mean  the  same  thing;  that  the  pre- 
cise meaning  in  a  given  case  must  be  determined  from 
the  nature  of  the  passage  quoted  and  the  manner  in 
which  the  quotation  is  made,  and  that  extreme  theo- 
ries on  either  side  should  be  avoided.  Sometimes  it 
seems  clear  that  the  prophecy  quoted  has  a  distinctly 
definite  sense,  but  in  other  cases  it  is  only  illustrative 
and  emphatic.  No  possible  reason  can  be  assigned 
why  many  of  the  passages  that  Jesus  quotes  as  "ful- 
filled" in  Himself,  or  that  the  Eva'ngelists  quote  as 
fulfilled  in  Him,  may  not  be  equally  fulfilled  in  men 
now  living.  The  fact  is  they  are  so  fulfilled,  and  per- 
haps not  least  strikingly  so  in  the  very  men  who  deny 
such  a  possibility.  "It  does  not  appear  that  Jesus 
considered  it  necessary  for  an  ancient  prophecy  to 
have  been  primarily  written  of  Himself  (much  less  to 
have  been  understood  by  its  writer  as  referring  to  any 
one  precisely  like  Jesus),  in  order  that  such  prophecy 
might  be  fulfilled  in  Himxelf.  He  taught  that  every- 
thing which  the  ancient  inspired  seers  of  the  nation 
had  said  concerning  the  redemption  of  the  people  by 

the  servant  of  Jehovah,  concerning  the  character  and 
6 


82  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

work,  the  reign,  sufferings,  death,  and  final  triumph 
of  the  Lord's  Redeemer  for  the  nation,  was  now  to 
be  completely  fulfilled."  * 

V.  The  form  of  Jesus's  quotations  is  a  topic  of 
much  interest  and  significance.  It  is  a  part  of  the 
larger  subject  of  quotations  in  the  New  Testament. 
The  following  are  the  principal  elementary  facts  that 
are  to  be  considered  in  dealing  with  the  subject: 

1.  Save  a  few  passages  and  scattered  words,  The 
Old  Testament  was  written   in   the   original   Jewish 
vernacular,  the  Hebrew  language. 

2.  Some  centuries  prior  to  the  age  of  Jesus  Hebrew 
became  a  dead  language,  giving  place  to  Aramaic,  a 
cognate  Semitic  tongue.     One  result  of  this  change 
was  that  the  Jews,  with  the  exception  of  the  scholars, 
were  now  unable  to  read  or  understand  their  Script- 
ures in  the  original  language. f 

3.  To  a  great  extent,  but  not  wholly  so,  The  Sep- 
tuagint,  the  Greek  version  made  in  Alexandria  in  the 
second  and  third  centuries  B.  C.,  took  the  place  of 
the  Hebrew  original.     In  some  degree  this  was  the 
case  even  in  Palestine,  where  conservatism  reigned 
almost  unchecked.     Furthermore,   the   Greek   Bible 
differed  more  or  less  in  parts  from  the  Hebrew  Bible 
now  existing,  and  also  from  the  one  existing  in  the 

*  George  T.  Ladd:  "What  is  the  Bible?"  p.  81. 

t  "Before  the  time  of  Christ,  people  who  were  not  scholars  had  ceased 
to  understand  Hebrew  altogether;  and  in  the  synagogue,  when  the  Bible  was 
read,  a  Meturgeman,  as  he  was  called,  that  is,  a  dragoman,  or  qualified 
translator,  had  to  rise  and  give  the  sense  of  the  passage  in  the  vulgar  dialect. 
The  Pentateuch  was  read  verse  by  verse,  or  in  lessons  from  the  Prophets 
three  verses  were  read  together,  and  then  the  Meturgeman  arose,  and  did  not 
read,  but  gave  orally  in  Aramaic  the  sense  of  the  original.  The  old  Hebrew, 
then,  was  by  this  time  a  learned  language,  acquired  not  in  common  life,  but 
from  a  teacher.  "—Smith,  Lecture  II. 


HOW  JESUS  USED  THE  SCRIPTURES.  83 

time  of  Jesus;  the  result  being  that  the  two  Bibles 
offered  many  discrepancies  in  matter  and  many  more 
in  form. 

4.  The  Greek  version,  no  more  than  the  Hebrew 
original,  met  the  popular  needs  of  Palestine,  for  the 
spoken  language  was  the  Aramaic.     Accordingly  ver- 
sions or  paraphrases  of  portions  of  the  Scriptures 
called  Targums   were  made  into  that  language,  which 
circulated  first  in  an  oral  and  afterwards  in  a  written 
form.     Whether  there  were  written  Targums  as  early 
as  the  time  of  Jesus,  seems  to  be  uncertain.     Some 
have  supposed  that  there  was  a  complete  Aramaic 
version  extant  in  His  time,  either  oral  or  written.     In 
Palestine  at  least  it  was  the  Hebrew  original  that  was 
read  in  synagogues,  a  fact  which  made  the  services  of 
an  interpreter  indispensable. 

5.  The  considerable  cost  and  comparative  rarity  of 
the  Hebrew  and  Greek  versions,  and  the  inconvenient 
form  which  they  had   in  common  with  all  ancient 
books,  caused  the  memory  to  be  far  more  trusted  in 
quotation  and  in  teaching  than  at  the  present  time. 

Putting  the  three  main  facts  together — the  variety 
and  the  variations  of  the  versions  and  the  large  use 
made  of  the  memory — we  should  antecedently  expect 
that  the  quotations  found  in  The  New  Testament, 
those  made  by  Jesus  included,  would  offer  many 
points  of  difficulty  to  seekers  after  agreement  of 
either  form  or  matter.  And  such  is  the  fact.  The 
complete  indifference  that  Jesus  was  wont  to  show 
towards  the  letter  or  form,  and  His  thorough  devo- 
tion to  substance  or  spirit,  to  say  nothing  of  the  other 
causes,  would  naturally  lead  us  to  expect  that  He 


84  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

would  exercise  great  freedom  in  respect  to  the  letter 
and  form  of  His  quotations.  And  so  it  is.  The  lit- 
erary habits  of  the  writers  of  The  New  Testament 
were  those  of  the  time  in  which  they  lived.  Modern 
quotations  together  present  innumerable  inaccura- 
cies; ancient  quotations  relatively  a  much  greater 
number. 

VI.  Another  fact  should  be  at  least  mentioned. 
Jesus  often  refers  to  books  of  Scripture  by  name. 
We  are  not  to  suppose,  however,  that  these  refer- 
ences settle  the  fact  of  authorship.  Here  comes  in 
the  principle  of  accommodation,  which  will  form  the 
subject  of  a  future  chapter.  To  make  a  particular 
application  of  this  principle,  some  critics  argue  from 
its  contents  that  the  book  called  Isaiah  must  have 
been  the  work  of  more  than  one  writer,  and  to  them 
it  is  replied,  "But  Jesus  calls  it  Isaiah."  The  re- 
ply is  worthless.  Jesus  applied  familiar  names  to 
familiar  things,  and  His  calling  any  book  by  the  name 
that  it  universally  bore  proves  only  the  currency  of 
the  book  and  the  name.  His  respectful  mention  of  a 
book,  and  His  use  of  it  in  teaching,  prove  the  esti- 
mate in  which  He  held  it. 

It  is  hard  for  one  who  has  fully  caught  the  spirit  of 
The  Old  Testament  in  its  nobler  portions,  or  the  spirit 
in  which  Christ  handled  it,  to  appreciate  the  impor- 
tance that  is  accorded  to  certain  controversies. 
What  matters  it  whether  there  was  one  Isaiah  or 
more?  The  meaning  and  the  value  of  the  book 
intrinsically  are  in  no  way  affected  by  its  authorship. 
Is  not  the  prophecy  there  all  the  same,  whichever 
view  we  accept?  The  question  is  indeed  a  perfectly 


HOW  JESUS  USED  THE  SCRIPTURES.  85 

proper  one  for  scholars  to  investigate;  but  the  great 
contention  about  Isaiah  now  going  on,  in  a  religious 
point  of  view,  does  not  make  one  hair  white  or  black. 
That  will  be  a  happy  day  for  the  cause  of  true  relig- 
ion when  men  come  to  see  the  difference  between 
religious  and  scholastic  questions. 

Differ  as  students  may  on  minor  points,  the  princi- 
pal views  advanced  in  this  chapter  hardly  admit  of 
doubt  or  disputation.  Jesus  always  handled  The  Old 
Testament  with  filial  reverence.  He  valued  its  books, 
not  on  account  of  their  historical,  critical,  or  theolog- 
ical interest,  but  on  account  of  their  practical  or 
ethical  interest.  He  was  anxious  about  the  life  or 
spirit,  and  indifferent  to  the  form  or  letter.  He  pro- 
pounded no  theory  of  inspiration,  and  attacked  none ; 
but  He  could  not  have  ground  the  formal,  verbal,  or 
mechanical  theory  to  finer  powder  than  He  did  had 
He  made  the  effort.  This  He  did  indirectly,  both  by 
the  genius  of  His  teaching  and  by  the  habitual  form 
in  which  He  quoted  The  Old  Testament.  The  want  of 
agreement  between  His  quotations  and  the  originals 
is  a  source  of  difficulty  only  to  those  who  seek  in  The 
New  Testament  what  it  makes  no  claim  to  contain. 
His  plain  intimation  that  the  "jots"  and  "tittles" 
of  the  Law  should  pass  away,  while  He  clung  tena- 
ciously to  its  moral  or  ideal  element,  is  a  plain  recog- 
nition of  the  antithesis  between  the  letter  that  killeth 
and  the  spirit  that  maketh  alive.  His  discrimination 
between  the  legal  tithes  of  mint,  anise,  and  cummin, 
and  the  weightier  matters  of  the  Law — justice,  mercy, 
and  faith — shows  as  conclusively  that  He  firmly 
grasped  the  great  principle  of  moral  perspective. 


86  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

I  have  said  that  while  Jesus  propounded  no  theory 
of  inspiration,  and  attacked  none,  He  yet  ground  the 
formal,  verbal,  or  mechanical  theory  to  fine  powder. 
If  the  word  and  letter  of  Scripture  were  originally 
inspired,  we  must  suppose  it  was  for  some  great  and 
even  necessary  reason;  but  no  such  reason  can  be 
seen,  or  even  imagined,  so  long  as  Jesus,  who  came 
to  fulfill  Scripture,  treated  the  word  and  letter  as 
though  they  were  things  of  no  value.  No  teacher  has 
shown  more  indifference  to  the  form  than  He  who 
was  so  careful  of  the  substance.  Again,  while  Jesus 
propounded  no  theory  of  inspiration,  He  always 
taught  according  to  one.  A  theory  is  implicitly  con- 
tained in  the  matter  and  the  manner  of  His  teaching. 
His  theory  is  that  the  substance,  the  reality,  the  con- 
tent of  Scripture,  is  inspired,  not  the  word  and  letter. 
We  may  call  it  the  dynamical  theory  in  contradistinc- 
tion to  the  mechanical  one. 

Some  further  conclusions  from  the  premises  before 
us  are  not  less  certain.  There  is  in  the  Church  that 
Jesus  planted  no  place  for  any  fixed,  set,  and  uni- 
versal form  of  creed  or  system  of  theological  teach- 
ing. There  is  no  place  for  any  rigid,  inelastic,  and 
universal  system  of  ecclesiastical  polity  or  govern- 
ment. There  is  no  place  for  any  final  and  authorita- 
tive interpretation  of  Scripture.  The  Rabbis  indeed 
thought — and  many  since  them  have  repeated  the 
mistake — that  they  could  fix  things  forever.  Jesus 
came  and  set  at  naught  their  work.  Moreover,  the 
very  process  in  which  they  were  engaged  should  have 
taught  them  better.  The  science  of  Biblical  exegesis, 
if  exegesis  be  a  science,  is  progressive.  It  depends  on 


HOW  JESUS  USED  THE  SCRIPTURES.  87 

the  human  mind  and  on  time  as  well  as  on  subject 
matter.  It  has  been  demanded  that  men  should  come 
to  the  Bible  with  minds  vacant  and  uncolored.  This 
never  was.  This  never  will  be.  The  men  of  any  age 
or  country  read  the  Bible  as  they  read  other  books, 
through  the  prism  of  their  own  cultivation.  Men 
cannot  get  away  from  themselves.  There  is  in 
Scripture  no  euphrasy  and  rue  that  effectually  purge 
the  visual  nerve.  Hence  it  is,  as  has  been  said,  that 
"no  permanent  change  takes  place  in  the  religious 
beliefs  or  usages  of  a  race  which  is  not  rooted  in  the 
existing  beliefs  and  usages  of  that  race.  The  truth 
which  Aristotle  enunciated,  that  all  intellectual  teach- 
ing is  based  upon  what  is  previously  known  to  the 
person  taught,  is  applicable  to  a  race  as  well  as  to  an 
individual,  and  to  beliefs  even  more  than  to  knowl- 
edge. A  religious  change  is,  like  a  physiological 
change,  of  the  nature  of  assimilation  by,  and  absorp- 
tion into,  existing  elements.  The  religion  which  our 
Lord  preached  was  rooted  in  Judaism.  It  came  'not 
to  destroy,  but  to  fulfill.'  It  took  the  Jewish  concep- 
tion of  a  Father  in  heaven,  and  gave  it  a  new  mean- 
ing. It  took  existing  moral  precepts,  and  gave  them 
a  new  application.  The  meaning  and  the  application 
had  already  been  anticipated  in  some  degree  by  the 
Jewish  prophets.  There  were  Jewish  minds  which 
had  been  ripening  for  them ;  and  so  far  as  they  were 
ripe  for  them,  they  received  them."  *  But  neither 
the  individual  nor  the  race  stands  still.  The  human 
mind  expands;  moral  experience  accumulates;  forms 
of  thought  and  organization  become  old  and  vanish 

*  Dr.  Hatch,  Lect.  I. 


88  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

away ;  men  see  farther  and  farther  into  the  heart  of 
things;  society  works  out  new  ideals,  and  throbs  with 
a  new  spirit.  The  letter  of  Scripture  remains  the 
same,  but  men  read  into  it  new  meanings.  Let  any 
man  of  intelligence  study  in  succession  the  concep- 
tions of  Christianity  that  are  found  in  the  Fathers,  in 
the  Middle  Age  doctors,  in  the  controversial  writers  of 
the  modern  era,  and  finally  the  conceptions  of  the 
most  enlightened  Christian  men  of  to-day — and  he 
will  have  the  most  striking  proof  that  history  affords 
that  Christianity  is  essentially  a  spirit, and  not  a  letter, 
or  a  form,  or  -a  dogma.  The  assumption  that  any 
formulation  of  religious  belief,  or  any  cast  of  church 
government,  can  forever  bind  the  intelligence  and  the 
will  of  man,  is  without  support  in  either  reason  or 
experience,  in  either  science  or  Scripture.  The  word 
of  the  Lord  shall  endure  forever.  But  the  spirit  and 
the  life, — they  are  the  word  of  the  Lord. 

NOTE. — An  abridgment  of  the  admirable  excursus  in  which 
Canon  Farrar  deals  with  the  Quotations  of  The  New  Testament 
is  subjoined. 

These  quotations  have  been  examined  and  tabulated  with 
great  care  by  Mr.  D.  C.  Turpie,  in  '  'The  Old  Testament  in  the 
New . ' '  He  establishes  the  following  remarkable  results : 
There  are  in  The  New  Testament  275  passages  which  may  be 
regarded — all  but  a  very  few  of  them  quite  indisputably — as 
quotations  from  the  Old ;  of  these  there  are  only  53  in  which  the 
Hebrew,  The  Septuagint,  and  The  New  Testament  agree,  i.e., 
in  which  the  Hebrew  is  correctly  rendered  by  the  LXX,  and 
quoted  from  the  LXX  by  the  Apostles  and  Evangelists.  Besides 
these  .there  are  10  passages  where  the  incorrect  version  of  the 
LXX  has  been  altered  into  accordance  with  the  Hebrew;  76 
where  the  version  of  the  LXX  is  correct,  but  has  been  varied  by 
The  New  Testament  writers ;  37  where  a  faulty  version  of  the 
LXX  has  been  accepted ;  and  no  fewer  than  99  where  The  New 
Testament  differs  alike  from  the  Hebrew  and  from  the  LXX. 
This  result  may  be  tabulated  as  follows: 


HOW  JESUS  USED  THE  SCRIPTURES.  89 

Passages  in  which  the  LXX  version  is  correctly  accepted,  53 

altered,    -       -       -       -   10 

incorrectly  accepted,  37 

altered,  -    76 

Passages  in  which  the  Hebrew,  the  LXX,  and  The  New  Testament  all  differ,  89 

In  this  tabulation  (1)  many  of  the  differences  are  extremely 
minute,  and  (2)  the  words  '  'correct' '  and  '  'incorrect' '  merely 
mean  an  inaccurate  agreement  or  disagreement  with  the  original 
Hebrew.  To  these  must  be  added  three  passages  (John  vii.  38, 
42,  and  Eph.  v.  14),  which  can  only  be  classed  as  doubtful 
allusions. 

The  bearing  of  these  facts  on  the  letter -worshiping  theory  of 
"inspired  dictation"  will  be  seen  at  once.  While  they  leave 
untouched  the  doctrine  of  a  Divine  grace  of  inspiration  and 
superintendence,  they  shatter  the  superstitious  and  anti- script- 
ural dogmatism  which  asserts  that  every  ' '  word  and  letter ' '  of 
The  Holy  Book  is  supernaturally  inspired.  To  hold  the  theory 
of  inspiration  in  this  latter  form  is ,  in  the  first  place,  to  deny 
the  plain  language  of  Scripture  itself,  the  plain  teaching  of 
Christ,  and  the  plain  indications  deducible  from  apostolic  and 
prophetic  usage  ;  and,  in  the  second  place,  to  incur  the  guilt  of 
setting  up  a  colossal  and  perilous  stumbling-block  in  the  path  of 
all  rational  godliness.  It  may  warn  insufficiently  educated 
readers  from  uncharitable  attacks  upon  such  views  [as  the  Canon 
holds] ,  to  know  that  these  views  are  also  those  of  not  a  few  of 
those  living,  as  well  as  of  former  theologians,  whose  names 
stand  highest  and  whose  authority  is  the  most  deservedly- 
respected  in  the  Church  of  England.  Conspicuous  among  the 
latter  are  the  names  of  Luther  and  Calvin.  Anyone  who  will 
read  the  comment  of  Luther  on  Psalm  xx. ,  and  that  of  Calvin 
on  Psalms  viii. ,  xl.  and  xlviii. ,  will  perhaps  be  surprised  to  see 
the  freedom  with  which  they  have  expressed  on  this  subject  the 
common -sense  and  honest  view  which  may  startle  the  support- 
ers of  a  mechanical  theory  of  inspiration,  but  would  not  have 
startled,  on  the  one  hand,  an  Origen,  a  Jerome,  an  Augustine,  a 
Gregory  of  Nyssa;  or,  on  the  other,  the  leading  intellects 
among  the  great  Reformers.  —Life  of  Christ,  EXGUTSUS  XI, 


CHAPTER   VII. 

HIS   HISTORICAL   ANTECEDENTS. 

IT  is  common  for  men  to  call  Jesus  the  most  origi- 
nal of  teachers.  None  are  more  given  to  pronounc- 
ing upon  Him  this  eulogium  than  some  of  those  who 
do  not  accept  the  traditionary  Christian  view  of  His 
nature  and  character. 

"  He  unites  in  Himself,"  says  Theodore  Parker, 
"  the  sublimest  precepts  and  divinest  practices,  thus 
more  than  realizing  the  dream  of  prophets  and  sages ; 
rises  free  from  all  prejudice  of  His  age,  nation,  or 
sect;  gives  free  range  to  the  spirit  of  God,  in  His 
breast;  sets  aside  the  Law,  sacred  and  true,  honored 
as  it  was,  its  forms,  its  sacrifice,  its  Temple,  its 
priests;  puts  away  the  doctors  of  the  Law,  subtle,  ir- 
refragable, and  pours  out  a  doctrine  beautiful  as  the 

light,  sublime  as  heaven,  and  true  as  God 

Try  Him  as  we  try  other  teachers.  They  deliver  their 
word,  find  a  few  waiting  for  the  consolation  who  ac- 
cept the  new  tidings,  follow  the  new  method,  and 
soon  go  beyond  their  teacher,  though  less  mighty 
minds  than  he.  Though  humble  men,  we  see  what 
Socrates  and  Luther  never  saw.  But  eighteen  centu- 
ries have  passed  since  the  sun  of  humanity  rose  so 
high  in  Jesus;  what  man,  what  sect,  has  mastered 

(90) 


HIS  HISTORICAL  ANTECEDENTS.  91 

His  thought,  comprehended  His  method,  and  so  fully 
applied  it  to  life."  * 

"  A  man  belongs  to  his  age  and  race,"  says  Renan, 
"  even  when  he  reacts  against  his  age  and  his  race. 
Far  from  being  the  continuator  of  Judaism,  Jesus 
represents  the  breaking  off  with  the  Jewish  spirit. 

.  .  .  The  general  progress  of  Christianity  has 
been  to  separate  more  and  more  from  Judaism.  Its 
perfection  will  be  in  returning  to  Jesus,  but  certainly 
not  in  returning  to  Judaism.  The  great  originality 
of  the  Founder,  therefore,  remains  complete;  His 
glory  admits  no  rightful  sharer."  t 

And  these  encomiums  are  true  and  deserved  in 
much  more  than  the  relative  sense  in  which  discrim- 
inating minds  use  such  language. 

Still,  men  are  coming  more  and  more  to  see  that 
history  is  continuous,  not  discontinuous;  that,  with 
all  its  so-called  epochs,  periods,  and  eras,  it  is  a  unit; 
and  that,  great  as  those  are  whom  we  call  the  crea- 
tors, men,  ideas,  institutions,  doctrines,  and  systems 
must  be  taken  in  relation  to  what  went  before  them, 
and  in  relation  to  their  own  time. 

Were  a  typical  scholar  of  the  last  century  to  return 
to  the  earth,  he  could  not  fail  to  be  surprised  by  the 
far  greater  range  and  compass  that  human  thought 
has  attained  in  every  subject  that  relates  to  man  or 
nature.  Sometimes  the  vast  accumulations  of  new 
knowledge  are  mentioned  as  the  characteristic  intel- 
lectual fact  of -the  century;  the  truth  is,  however, 
that  the  new  aspect  under  which  knowledge  is  consid- 

*  Discourses  of  Religion,  pp.  294,  303. 
t  Life  of  Jesus,  Chapter  xxviii. 


92  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

ered — the  new  attitude  of  the  human  mind  to  the 
materials  upon  which  it  works — is  quite  as  remarkable. 
In  natural  history  genera  and  species  are  no  longer 
the  rigid  things  that  once  they  were.  The  lines  that 
separate  class  from  class  and  group  from  group  are 
less  tightly  and  straightly  drawn ;  and  in  the  room  of 
the  words  "create,"  "creation,"  and  "made,"  "de- 
velop," "  evolution,"  and  "become"  are  used.  In 
human  history  the  hand  of  the  evolutionist  has  round- 
ed off  the  sharp  corners  and  quick  turns  that  the  old 
writers  made  so  prominent;  transition  has  largely 
usurped  the  place  of  revolution;  the  new  scholars 
glide  gracefully  around  the  easy  curves ;  while  epochs, 
eras,  ages,  and  periods,  although  too  important  to  be 
thrown  aside,  are  used  in  senses  that  do  not  interfere 
with  the  wonted  unity  and  continuity  of  history.  So- 
cial organs  and  functions,  like  those  of  nature,  grow 
and  are  not  made;  nay,  some  tell  us_that  society  it- 
self is  an  organism.  To  discuss  the  new  way  of  look- 
ing at  things  is  no  part  of  my  purpose.  The  imagined 
visitant  from  the  eighteenth  century  would  soon  dis- 
cover that  it  does  not  explain,  and  does  not  assume 
to  explain,  the  origin  of  things;  it  embraces  only 
the  movement  when  once  it  has  begun.  Still,  having 
adjusted  his  mind  to  the  new  method,  he  could  not 
fail  to  see  that  it  has  made  the  old  artificial  and  me- 
chanical theories  of  nature  and  history  impossible  to 
thinking  men. 

"On  us  a  new  light  has  come.  I  do  not  for  a  mo- 
ment hesitate  to  say  that  the  discovery  of  the  Compar- 
ative Method  in  philology,  in  mythology — let  me  add 
in  politics  and  history  and  the  whole  range  of  human 


HIS  HISTORICAL  ANTECEDENTS.  93 

thought — marks  a  stage  in  the  progress  of  the  human 
mind  at  least  as  great  and  memorable  as  the  revival 
of  Greek  and  Latin  learning.  The  great  contribu- 
tion of  the  nineteenth  century  to  the  advance  of  hu- 
man knowledge  may  boldly  take  its  stand  along  side 
of  the  great  contribution  of  the  fifteenth.  Like  the 
revival  of  learning,  it  has  opened  to  its  votaries  a  new 
world,  and  that  not  an  isolated  world,  a  world  shut 
up  within  itself,  but  a  world  in  which  times  and 
tongues  and  nations  which  before  seemed  parted 
poles  asunder,  now  find  each  its  own  place,  its  own 
relation  to  every  other,  as  members  of  one  common 
primeval  brotherhood."  *  So  says  a  great  historical 
scholar,  who  might,  had  it  lain  in  his  way,  have  also 
named  ethics  and  religion  as  fields  in  which  the  new 
habit  of  mind  has  worked  out  important  results. 

"The  present  is  the  fruit  of  the  past  and  the  germ 
of  the  future.  No  work  can  stand  unless  it  grows 
out  of  the  real  wants  of  the  age,  and  strikes  firm  root 
in  the  soil  of  history.  No  one  who  tramples  on  the 
rights  of  a  past  generation  can  claim  the  regard  of 
its  posterity.  History  will  disregard  him  who  disre- 
gards her."  So  says  a  distinguished  church  histo- 
rian, t 

The  religion  of  a  given  country  at  a  given  time  is 
relative  to  its  whole  mental  attitude  at  that  time,  as 
Dr.  Hatch  tells  us  in  a  passage  quoted  in  the  last 
chapter. 

It  would  be  sheer  forcing  things  even  to  intimate  that 

*  Dr.  E.   A.  Freeman  :    The  Unity  of   History.    The  Rede  Lecture,  read 
before  the  University  of  Cambridge,  May  29,  1872. 
t  Dr.  Philip  Schaff . 


94  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

Jesus  used  the  Comparative  Method.  Still,  we  come 
upon  frequent  proofs,  and  decisive  proofs,  that  He 
rejected  the  mechanical  conception  of  the  human 
mind,  of  life,  and  of  nature,  and  that  He  always 
worked  from  the  dynamical  conception  outward.  Je- 
sus is  no  exception  to  the  law  of  development,  either 
in  Himself  or  in  the  method  of  His  work.  He  had 
His  antecedents  and  environments,  both  of  which 
profoundly  affected  both  the  manner  and  the  matter 
of  His  teaching.  He  stands  indeed  for  a  new  era;  but 
we  can  no  more  separate  Him  from  what  went  be- 
fore that  from  what  came  after.  Let  us  therefore 
glance  at  some  of  these  antecedents. 

Those  writers  who  deal  understandingly  with  the 
subject  lay  great  stress  upon  three  factors  in  the 
preparation  of  the  world  for  Christianity, — the  Gre- 
cian philosophy  and  literature,  the  Roman  jurispru- 
dence and  political  organization,  and  the  Jewish  Law. 
The  direct  influence  of  the  two  first  upon  the  Author 
of  Christianity  is  slight,  if  indeed  it  be  appreciable, 
but  that  of  the  third  was  very  great.  In  the  passage, 
"  But  when  the  fullness  of  the  time  was  come,  God 
sent  forth  His  Son,  made  of  a  woman,  made  under 
the  Law,"*  the  words  "  made  under  the  law,"  are 
equally  significant  with  the  words  "  made  of  a 
woman."  The  whole  passage  marks,  not  merely  the 
completion,  and  so  the  end,  of  an  antecedent  prepa- 
ration of  the  world,  but  also  the  distinctive  Jewish 
element  that  it  contained.  The  influence  of  the  Law 
upon  Jesus,  which  is  the  topic  now  in  hand,  came 

*Gal.  iv.  4. 


HIS  HISTORICAL  ANTECEDENTS.  95 

through  two  channels, — one  direct  and  one  indirect. 

The  Mosaic  law  combined  two  kinds  of  elements, — 
the  moral  and  the  positive ;  or  those  that  rested  upon 
internal  authority,  and  those  that  rested  upon  exter- 
nal authority.  It  was  a  body  of  moral  and  religious 
doctrine,  as  well  as  an  objective  political,  ecclesiastic- 
al, and  religious  system.  It  abounded  in  both  affirm- 
ative and  negative  commands.  While  Moses  looked 
closely  to  the  perpetuation  of  the  Law,  he  assigned 
the  sole  public  teaching  function  to  the  priesthood, 
and  this  function  pertained  more  to  rites  and  ceremo- 
nies than  it  did  to  the  higher  religious  truths  and  du- 
ties. Moses  provided  a  ministry  of  the  letter  that 
killeth,  but  not  of  the  spirit  that  maketh  alive.  In 
time,  however,  there  appeared  a  supplementary  min- 
istry that  for  many  centuries  supplied  this  lack.  The 
reference  is  to  the  Prophets.  While  there  was.  an 
older  prophecy,  notably  exemplified  in  Moses  himself, 
the  Jews  were  accustomed  to  say  that  Samuel  was  the 
first  of  the  prophetic  order.  *  Since  a  living  inspira- 
tion is  the  very  life  and  soul  of  prophecy,  the  Law- 
giver was  unable  to  establish  a  succession  of  prophets 
as  he  did  of  priests.  The  Jewish  idea  was  that  holy 
men  spoke  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Spirit. 
Still  it  must  be  said  that  at  a  later  time  there  was 
something  of  an  organization  of  that  nature.  The 
evidence  of  this  is  found  in  the  "schools  of  the 
prophets"  mentioned  in  several  of  The  Old  Tes- 
tament books. 

Very  naturally,  the  priests,  considered  as  teachers, 
and  the  prophets,  moved  on  divergent  lines.  The 

*Actsiii.  24;  xiii.  20;  Heb.  ii.  32. 


96  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

priests  emphasized  ceremonial  duties,  ritualistic 
casuistry,  the  ipsissima  verba  of  the  Law ;  the  proph- 
ets emphasized  spiritual  truths  and  ethical  duties, 
and  constantly  strove  to  counteract  the  powerful 
legal  tendency  of  the  priests,  and  to  spiritualize  the 
national  religion.  Such  familiar  passages  as  the  fol- 
lowing are  clothed  with  a  new  meaning  when  we  dis- 
cern that  they  are  aimed  at  the  very  state  of  things 
which  the  priestly  influence  constantly  tended  to 
create  : 

Samuel. — To  obey  is  better  than  sacrifice,  and  to 
hearken  than  the  fat  of  rams.  * 

David. — Thou  desirest  not  sacrifice;  else  would  I 
give  it:  Thou  delightest  not  in  burnt  offering.  The 
sacrifices  of  God  are  a  broken  spirit :  a  broken  and  a 
contrite  heart,  O  God,  Thou  wilt  not  despise,  t 

Micah. — He  hath  showed  thee,  O  man,  what  is 
good;  and  what  doth  the  Lord  require  of  thee,  but  to 
do  justly,  and  to  love  mercy,  and  to  walk  humbly  with 
thy  God?  | 

Isaiah. — Wash  ye,  make  you  clean;  put  away  the 
evil  of  your  doings  from  before  mine  eyes ;  cease  to 
do  evil;  learn  to  do  well;  seek  judgment,  relieve  the 
oppressed,  judge  the  fatherless,  plead  for  the  widow. 
Come  now,  and  let  us  reason  together,  saith  the  Lord : 
though  your  sins  be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be  as  white 
as  snow;  though  they  be  red  like  crimson,  they  shall 
be  as  wool.  § 

Still,  so  strong  is  the  machine  tendency  in  human 
nature,  so  much  easier  is  it  to  offer  sacrifice  than  to 

*  1  Sam.  xv.  22.  t  Psa.  li.  16,  17. 

J  Chap.  vi.  8.  §  Chap.  i.  16-18. 


HIS  HISTORICAL  ANTECEDENTS.  97 

render  obedience,  and  so  powerful  was  the  sacerdotal 
organization,  that  the  priesthood  more  and  more  pre- 
vailed, until  at  last  prophecy  came  to  an  end  alto- 
gether. "After  the  death  of  Haggai,  Zechariah,  and 
Malachi,  the  last  of  the  prophets,"  says  the  Talmud, 
"the  spirit  disappeared  from  Israel."  Nor  did  it 
return  until  John  the  Baptist  came  preaching  in  the 
wilderness  of  Judaea. 

Long  before  the  prophetic  lamp  burned  out  a  new 
light  had  been  kindled.  The  Jews  returned  from 
the  Captivity  passionately  attached  to  the  Law.  But 
circumstances  had  changed ;  what  was  once  possible 
was  possible  no  longer;  and  the  new  order  that  was 
now  set  up,  was  hardly  more  like  the  old  order  than 
the  new  Temple  was  like  the  old  Temple.  In  fact,  the 
more  impossible  it  became  fully  to  restore  their  an- 
cient institutions,  the  more  attached  to  them  the  Jews 
became.  In  these  general  circumstances  originated 
the  order  that  extinguished  the  prophets  and  eclipsed 
the  priesthood.  However,  some  further  facts  should 
also  be  mentioned.  The  original  precepts  of  the  Pen- 
tateuch alone  were  six  hundred  and  thirteen,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  far  larger  number  of  traditions  that 
had  gathered  about  them ;  they  were  now  found  in  a 
dead  language ;  while  a  large  majority  of  the  Jewish 
people  were  husbandmen,  closely  engaged  in  severe 
daily  toil,  and  wholly  incompetent  to  deal  with  the 
vast  system  of  law  and  commentary  that  was  extant  in 
the  time  of  Jesus.  Hence  the  obvious  truth,  that  the 
people  were  compelled  to  fall  back  upon  the  assist- 
ance of  a  class  of  professional  men  who  made  the 
7 


98  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

study  of  the  Law  and  tradition  the  supreme  business 
of  their  lives.  These  were  the  Rabbis. 

It  is  probable  that  what  in  the  Gospels  are  called 
"the  traditions  of  the  elders"  and  "the  command- 
ments of  men,"  had  begun  to  accumulate  around  the 
Law  as  a  nucleus  before  the  Exile;  at  all  events, 
owing  to  lapse  of  time  and  changing  conditions,  such 
accumulations  went  on  ceaselessly  after  that  time, 
until  at  last  they  assumed  permanent  forms  in  the 
Talmuds. 

How  the  facts  now  stated — the  priests,  the  proph- 
ets, and  the  Rabbis  conditioned  the  teaching  of  Jesus 
— is  dealt  with  in  other  chapters.  Attempts  have 
been  made  to  decry  the  originality  of  Jesus.  Some 
have  put  forth  the  theory  that  seems  almost  to  in- 
volve the  generation  of  the  teachings  attributed  to 
Him  by  the  mere  commingling  of  the  elements  of 
Grecian,  Roman,  and  Jewish  civilization.  The 
theory  is  at  war  with  the  facts  of  the  case;  no  teach- 
ings  ever  more  plainly  bore  the  unmistakable  mark  of 
an  individual  creative  mind.  Others  have  supposed 
that  He  borrowed  ideas  from  the  Buddhists,  but 
Renan  tells  us  that  it  is  difficult  to  believe  that  a 
Buddhist  influence  could  have  reached  Him.  The 
claim  advanced  by  some  that  His  teaching  was  a  mere 
eclectic  system,  borrowed  from  various  sects  and 
teachers  of  His  time,  Canon  Farrar  has  thus  forcibly 
set  aside: 

And  from  whom  could  Jesus  have  borrowed?  From  Oriental 
gymnosophists  or  Greek  philosophers?  No  one,  in  these  days, 
ventures  to  advance  so  wild  a  proposition.  From  the  Pharisees? 
The  very  foundations  of  their  system,  the  very  idea  of  their  re- 


HIS  HISTORICAL  ANTECEDENTS.  99 

ligion,  was  irreconcilably  alien  from  all  that  He  revealed. 
From  the  Sadducees?  Their  epicurean  insouciance ,  their  "ex- 
pediency" politics,  their  shallow  rationalism,  their  polished 
sloth,  were  even  more  repugnant  to  true  Christianity  than  they 
were  to  sincere  Judaism.  From  the  Essenes?  They  were  an 
exclusive,  ascetic,  and  isolated  community,  with  whose  discour- 
agement of  marriage ,  and  withdrawal  from  action ,  the  Gospels 
have  no  sympathy,  and  to  whom  our  Lord  never  alluded,  unless 
it  be  in  those  passages  where  He  reprobates  those  who  abstain 
from  anointing  themselves  when  they  fast,  and  who  hide  their 
candle  under  a  bushel.  From  Philo,  and  the  Alexandrian 
Jews?  Philo  was  indeed  a  good  man,  and  a  great  thinker,  and 
a  contemporary  of  Christ ;  but  (even  if  his  name  had  ever  been 
heard — which  is  exceedingly  doubtful — in  so  remote  a  region  as 
Galilee)  it  would  be  impossible,  among  the  world's  philoso- 
phies, to  choose  any  system  less  like  the  doctrines  which  Jesus 
taught,  than  the  mystic  theosophy  and  allegorizing  extrava- 
gance of  that  ' '  sea  of  abstractions ' '  which  lies  concealed  in 
his  writings.  From  Hillel  and  Shammai?  We  know  but  little 
of  them ;  but  although,  in  one  or  two  passages  of  the  Gospels, 
there  may  be  a  conceivable  allusion  to  the  disputes  which  agi- 
tated their  schools,  or  to  one  or  two  of  the  best  and  truest  max- 
ims which  originated  in  them ,  such  allusions ,  on  the  one  hand , 
involve  no  more  than  belongs  to  the  common  stock  of  truth 
taught  by  the  Spirit  of  God  to  men  in  every  age;  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  system  which  Shammai  and  Hillel  taught  was 
that  oral  tradition,  that  dull,  dead  Levitical  ritualism,  at  once 
arrogant  and  impotent,  at  once  frivolous  and  unoriginal,  which 
Jesus  both  denounced  and  overthrew.  The  schools  in  which 
Jesus  learned  were  not  the  schools  of  the  Scribes ,  but  the  school 
of  holy  obedience,  of  sweet  contentment,  of  unalloyed  simplic- 
ity, of  stainless  purity,  of  cheerful  toil.  The  lore  in  which  He 
studied  was  not  the  lore  of  Rabbinism ,  in  which  to  find  one  just 
or  noble  thought  we  must  wade  through  masses  of  puerile  fancy 
and  cabalistic  folly,  but  the  Books  of  God  without  Him,  in 
Scripture,  in  nature,  and  in  life ;  and  the  Book  of  God  within 
Him,  written  on  the  fleshly  tables  of  the  heart.  * 

*  Life  of  Christ,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  87-89. 


100  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

Jesus  was  the  most  original  of  teachers ;  but  at  the 
same  time  His  teachings  and  institutions  were  histor- 
ical outgrowths  of  what  had  gone  before,  and  of  what 
He  saw  around  Him.  In  fact,  His  success  depended 
upon  such  a  relation;  without  it  He  must  have  failed. 
No  teacher,  not  even  the  most  creative,  is  absolutely 
superior  to  his  times.  Jesus  was  a  Jew;  furthermore, 
as  a  Jew  he  was  an  Oriental,  and  how  significant  this 
fact  is  we  shall  see  in  another  place. 

In  the  last  chapter  it  was  shown  that  much  of  the 
originality  of  Jesus  consisted  in  expounding,  elevating, 
and  spiritualizing  the  Law.  Still  further  illustrations 
of  the  same  fact  are  here  in  point.  Early  in  His 
career  He  declared  that  He  had  not  come  to  destroy 
the  Law  or  the  Prophets,  but  to  fulfill  them.  He  im- 
plied a  time  when  the  Law,  at  least  in  its  existing 
form,  would  pass  away;  but  this  would  be  by  fulfill- 
ment and  not  by  abolition.  He  came  to  fulfill  the 
Law.  The  Evangelists  caught  the  note,  and  often 
spoke  of  the  Law  and  the  Prophets  as  being  fulfilled 
in  Him. 

Teaching  by  precepts  may  be  thorough  and  effective, 
but  it  is  slow,  and  reposes  little  confidence  in  the 
human  mind.  The  constant  assumption  of  the 
teacher  who  deals  in  precepts  is,  that  men  require  to 
be  told  in  every  case,  or  at  least  in  every  class  of 
cases,  what  to  do  and  what  not  to  do.  Hence  the 
"Thou  shalts"  and  "Thou  shalt  nots"  of  the  Ten 
Commandments.  Teaching  by  principles  is  some- 
thing wholly  different.  The  teacher  assumes  some 
insight  and  stability  on  the  part  of  the  pupil — as- 
sumes that  he  can  make  his  own  applications,  for  the 


HIS  HISTORICAL  ANTECEDENTS.  101 

most  part,  when  he  is  once  put  in  possession  of  the 
principle.  The  difference  between  the  two  methods 
could  not  be  more  happily  illustrated  than  they  are 
by  the  Law  and  the  Gospel,  Moses  and  Jesus.  Jesus 
was  a  consummate  master  of  the  art  of  seizing  the 
principle  behind  the  precept,  and  in  reducing  formal 
rules  to  unity.  When  the  lawyer  asked,  "Master, 
what  is  the  great  commandment  of  the  Law?''  He 
answered:  "Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with 
all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy 
mind.  This  is  the  first  and  great  commandment. 
And  the  second  is  like  unto  it,  Thou  shalt  love  thy 
neighbor  as  thyself.  On  these  two  commandments 
hang  all  the  Law  and  the  Prophets."  *  Thus  did  He 
reduce  the  whole  Decalogue,  in  fact  the  whole  Old 
Testament  system,  to  two  simple  truths. 

No  better  example  of  His  method  of  expanding  old 
ideas  can  be  given  than  these  very  truths.  He  devel- 
oped them  out  of  current  Jewish  conceptions.  His 
idea  of  the  Father  in  heaven  was  the  Jewish  concep- 
tion of  Jehovah  expanded,  elevated,  and  brought  into 
touch  with  human  sympathies.  The  prophets  had 
done  something  to  universalize  and  refine  the  idea, 
but  He  completed  the  work.  Jehovah  was  a  national 
divinity;  the  Father  in  heaven  belongs  to  the  race. 
Beyond  the  conception  of  a  God  who  causes  the  sun 
to  shine  on  the  evil  and  on  the  good,  and  sends  the 
rain  on  the  just  and  the  unjust,  it  is  impossible  for 
the  human  mind  to  go.  Again,  the  old  Jewish  idea  of 
brotherhood  was  also  limited  to  the  Chosen  People. 
Here  the  prophets  had  also  led  the  way  in  expanding 

*  Matt.  xxii.  34-40. 


102  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

the  idea,  but  Jesus  pushed  it  to  its  limits,  as  before. 
The  parable  of  the  good  Samaritan  has  probably  done 
more  than  any  other  lesson  of  equal  length  ever 
spoken  to  break  down  mere  regard  for  nation  and 
order,  and  to  bring  in  the  conception  of  the  brother- 
hood of  man. 

Once  more  Jewish  history  furnished  Jesus  the  grand- 
est of  all  His  themes.  If  we  take  the  Book  of  Daniel 
literally,  it  was  in  the  midst  of  the  disasters  and  humil- 
iations of  the  Captivity,  as  well  as  at  the  culmination 
of  Eastern  power  and  splendor,  that  the  vision  of  a 
kingdom  of  God  first  distinctly  arose  on  the  Jewish 
mind.  "  And  in  the  days  of  these  kings,"  said  the 
seer,  "  shall  the  God  of  heaven  set  up  a  kingdom, 
which  shall  never  be  destroyed:  and  the  kingdom 
shall  not  be  left  to  other  people,  but  it  shall  break  in 
pieces  and  consume  all  these  kingdoms,  and  it  shall 
stand  forever."*  "It  was,"  says  Dean  Stanley,  "the 
first  announcement  of  'a  kingdom  of  heaven/  that  is 
of  a  power  not  temporal,  with  the  rule  of  kings  or 
priests,  but(£piritual,  with  the  rule  of  mind  and  con- 
science}—' cut  out  of  the  mountain  without  hands/  "  f 
This  was  the  beginning.  As  time  wore  on,  and  the 
national  history  became  more  and  troubled,  the 
prophetic  vision  became  brighter  and  brighter.  It 
became  a  distinct  national  aspiration,  and  was  merged 
into  the  reign  of  the  Messiah.  The  last  of  the 
Prophets  repeated  the  promise,}  and  John  the  Bap- 
tist made  it  the  burden  of  his  preaching.  "  Repent 
ye:  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand,"  was  his 

*  Chap.  ii.  44. 

t  History  of  the  Jewish  Church,  Lect.  xlii. 

jMalachiiii.  1;  iv.  2. 


HIS  HISTORICAL  ANTECEDENTS.  103 

cry.  Jesus  also  took  up  the  call.  He  preached  the 
Gospel  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  taught  his  disci- 
ples to  pray,  "Thy  kingdom  come."  The  vision  that 
Daniel  saw  was  a  stone  cut  out  of  the  mountain 
without  hands;  nevertheless  the  Jews  transmuted 
it  into  the  reign  of  a  temporal  military  monarch. 
John  associated  it  with  repentance  and  reformation. 
Jesus  made  it  the  symbol  of  all  His  grandest  ideas 
and  inspirations.  The  stone  was  a  kingdom  of  the 
spirit.  "  And  when  He  was  demanded  of  the  Phar- 
isees, when  the  kingdom  of  God  should  come,  He  an- 
swered them  and  said,  The  kingdom  of  God  cometh 
not  with  observation :  neither  shall  they  say,  Lo  here ! 
or,  lo  there!  for,  behold,  the  kingdom  of  God  is  with- 
in you."  * 

Thus  the  Law  was  fulfilled,  not  merely  in  the  formal 
or  promissory  sense  of  abrogation,  but  in  the  fuller 
sense  of  a  development  or  unfolding  into  something 
higher  and  better. 

*  Luke  xvii.  20,  25. 


CHAPTEE  VIII. 

HIS   INSTITUTIONS. 

THE  main  thought  presented  in  the  last  chapter  is 
still  further  illustrated  by  the  history  of  the  institu- 
tions that  Jesus  established.  It  is  the  thought  of  his- 
torical relation  and  continuity. 

Jesus  did  not  lay  great  stress  upon  institutions.  He 
preached  the  Kingdom  of  God,  but  this  kingdom  was 
without  observation  and  dwelt  in  men.  Its  main  fea- 
ture was  its  righteousness.  Still,  He  realized  that 
some  sort  of  organization  and  co-operation  were 
essential  to  righteousness,  and  this  led  Him  to  found 
the  Church  as  the  pillar  and  support  of  the  truth. 
But  here  He  kept  as  far  as  possible  from  formal  and 
legal  ideas,  for  He  rested  the  Church  upon  a  purely 
moral  basis.  It  was  the  declaration  of  His  own  offi- 
cial character.  *  Political  and  military  founders,  as 
well  those  who  followed  as  those  who  preceded  Him, 
would  think  this  a  very  unsubstantial  foundation. 
He  builded  better  than  they  knew.  Kingdoms  that 
rest  upon  moral  ideas  may .  defy  time  and  death,  but 
those  that  rest  on  force  are  sure  some  time  to  come  to 
an  end. 

Jesus  was  regardless  of  novelty  or  originality  as 
such;  nay,  He  knew  full  well  that  institutions,  to  be 

*  Matt.  xvi.  13-20. 
(104) 


HIS  INSTITUTIONS.  105 

useful  and  lasting,  must  be  in  touch  with  present 
ideas  and  feelings.  The  synagogue  was  centuries  old; 
it  had  stood  the  test  of  time  and  usage;  and  so,  fol- 
lowing His  usual  method  of  borrowing  and  adapta- 
tion, He  modeled  the  Church  after  it.  The  longer 
His  course  is  scrutinized,  the  wiser  will  it  appear  to 
be.  "Throughout  the  country,  in  town  and  village, 
increasing  since  the  time  of  Ezra,"  says  Stanley, 
"had  sprung  up  a  whole  system  of  worship,  which  to 
the  Pentateuch  and  the  Prophets  and  the  early 
Psalmists  was  unknown.  The  main  religious  instruc- 
tion and  devotion  of  the  nation  was  now  carried  on, 
not  in  the  Temple,  but  in  the  synagogues."  He  says 
further : 

It  is  obvious  how  important  a  link  this  institution  estab- 
lished between  the  Jewish  settlements  throughout  the  world. 
At  Alexandria,  at  Rome,  at  Babylon,  there  was  no  Temple. 
But  in  every  one  of  those  cities,  and  by  many  a  tank  or  river- 
side in  Egypt,  Greece,  or  Italy,  there  was  the  same  familiar 
building,  the  same  independent  organization,  the  same  house  for 
the  mingled  worship  and  business  of  every  Jewish  community. 
And  thus,  inasmuch  as  the  synagogue  existed  where  the  Temple 
was  unknown,  and  remained  when  the  Temple  fell,  it  followed 
that  from  its  order  and  worship,  and  not  from  that  of  the  Tem- 
ple, were  copied,  if  not  in  all  their  details,  yet  in  their  general 
features,  the  government,  the  institutions,  and  the  devotions  of 
those  Christian  communities,  which,  springing  directly  from 
the  Jewish ,  were  in  the  first  instance  known  as  ' '  synagogues , ' ' 
or  "meeting-houses,"  and  afterwards  by  the  adoption  of  an 
almost  identical  word,  '  'Ecclesia, ' '  '  'assembly -house ! "  * 

The  imitation  of  the  old  society  by  the  new  one 
was  extensive  indeed,  embracing  its  essential  features 
both  of  organization  and  service.  From  an  early  time 

*  History  of  the  Jewish  Church,  Lect.  1. 


106  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

had  descended  that  democratic  element  which  is  so 
marked  a  feature  of  the  ancient  Church.  In  the  time 
of  Ezra  and  Nehemiah,  Stanley  tells  us,  "  We  stumble 
on  the  first  distinct  notice  of  that  popular  element 
which,  deriving,  in  later  times,  its  Grecian  name  from 
the  Athenian  assemblies,  passed  into  the  early  Chris- 
tian community  under  the  title  of  Ecdesia — and  thus 
became  the  germ  of  that  idea  of  the  'Church'  in  which 
the  voice  of  the  people  or  laity  had  supreme  control 
over  the  teachers  and  rulers  of  the  society — an  idea 
preserved  in  the  first  century  in  its  integrity,  retained 
in  some  occasional  instances  down  to  the  eleventh 
century,  then  •  almost  entirely  superseded  by  the 
mediaeval  schemes  of  ecclesiastical  polity,  until  it  re- 
appeared, although  in  modified  and  disjointed  forms, 
in  the  sixteenth  and  following  centuries."  * 

The  first  mention  of  Christian  ministers  other  than 
the  Apostles  and  the  Seven,  is  found  in  Acts  xi.  30. 
The  relief  that  was  raised  in  Antioch  for  the  Church 
in  Jerusalem  was  sent  to  the  elders  by  the  hands  of 
Barnabas  and  Saul.  A  more  significant  mention  is 
met  with  a  little  later.  |  On  their  first  journey  into 
Asia  Minor,  Paul  and  Barnabas  ordained  elders  in 
every  city  where  they  established  churches.  But 
these  are  by  no  means  the  first  cases  in  which  we  meet 
the  name  in  The  New  Testament.  "Elder"  is  the 
title  by  which  the  rulers  of  the  synagogue  are  com- 
monly known  in  the  Gospels.  Consideriflg  the  way 
in  which  Jesus  denounced  the  Jewish  elders,  we  might 
have  imagined  that  the  Apostles  would  choose  anoth- 

*  History  of  the  Jewish  Church,  Lect.  xliv. 
f  Chap.  xiv. 


HIS  INSTITUTIONS.  107 

er  name  for  the  chief  ministers  of  the  local  church. 
Nothing  of  the  kind;  the  name  is  the  only  one  in  use 
in  the  first  years  of  the  Church,  and  was  never  wholly 
dropped. 

As  showing  the  extent  to  which  the  principle  of 
conformity  to  existing  forms  and  usages  was  carried, 
we  may  follow  the  history  a  little  farther.  When  the 
time  came  for  the  Greek  influence  to  assert  itself, 
elder  ceased  to  be  an  exclusive  term.  We  now 
read  of  "  bishops."  The  word  is  found  only  once  in 
The  Acts,*  but  it  is  more  characteristic  of  the  pastoral 
Epistles  than  elder  itself.  To  what  cause  are  we 
to  ascribe  the  introduction  of  the  new  word  ?  Cer- 
tainly not  to  the  reorganization  of  the  Church,  or  to 
a  change  in  the  duties  of  the  minister.  Nothing  is 
more  certain  than  that  the  elder,  bishop,  and  pastor 
of  the  Primitive  Church  were  the  same  officer.  On 
this  point  the  usage  of  language  is  decisive.  No 
change  of  functions  marks  the  introduction  of  the 
new  name,  although  in  course  of  time  a  change  was 
made ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  new  word  was  due  to 
the  same  principle  that  dictated  the  old  one. 

Presbuteros,  "  elder,"  was  a  title  as  familiar  to  the 
Jew  as  the  name  of  the  synagogue  itself;  and,  should 
he  find  the  old  name  given  to  a  new  officer,  he 
would  naturally  suppose  that  the  new  society  was  like 
the  old  society,  and  that  the  new  officer  was  expected 
to  do  work  similar  to  the  work  that  the  old  officer  had 
done.  To  make  choice  of  the  word  was  merely  con- 
sulting economy  of  time  and  mental  force  wherever 
Jewish  ideas  and  usages  prevailed.  But  to  the  Greeks 

*  Chap.  xx.  35. 


108  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

presbuteros  was  merely  a  general  appellative,  having  no 
special  or  official  meaning.  It  would  convey  to  them 
no  specific  or  definite  idea  whatever.  Accordingly,  the 
same  sense  of  fitness  that,  in  the  first  case,  had  sug- 
gested presbuteros  now  suggested  episkopos,  "  bishop." 
This  word  meant  (1)  one  who  watched  over  some 
charge,  an  overseer,  a  guardian;  (2)  a  scout  or 
watch;  (3)  a  superintendent  or  intendant  whom  the 
Athenians  placed  over  the  subject  states.  The  gener- 
ic meaning  of  "  watcher  "  or  "  overseer  "  well  de- 
scribes the  office,  but  it  is  not  improbable  that  the  nar- 
rower political  meaning  was  uppermost  in  the  minds 
of  those  who  brought  in  the  new  word.  At  least,  the 
old  word  became  less  prominent  when  the  special 
causes  that  made  it  significant  ceased  to  exist,  and  a 
new  word,  which  was  more  significant,  was  introduced. 
The  two  words,  in  their  broadest  meaning,  suggest 
very  different  ideas.  Presbuteros  means  an  "older 
man,"  and  names  the  officer  with  reference  to  his 
personal  character;  episkopos  means  a  superintendent, 
and  names  him  with  reference  to  his  functions.  Poi- 
meen,  "pastor,"  follows  the  analogy  of  the  second;  it 
means  a  shepherd  of  a  flock. 

In  view  of  these  facts  it  is  impossible  to  suppose 
that  the  Founder  expected  that  the  Church  would  re- 
tain a  rigid,  inelastic  organization  under  all  circum- 
stances, or  that  its  ministers  would  necessarily  be 
known  by  the  same  names.  This  obvious  adaptation 
to  time  and  place  implies  that  the  objects  of  the 
Church,  its  spirit,  and  the  duties  that  its  officers  are 
to  perform,  are  of  far  greater  consequence,  than  its 
formal  organization. 


HIS  INSTITUTIONS.  109 

While  much  less  elaborate,  ceremonial,  and  ritual- 
istic than  the  synagogue  service,  the  Church  service 
nevertheless  has  many  points  in  common  with  it.  The 
scriptural  readings,  the  prayers,  the  sermon,  the  ex- 
hortation, the  hymn,  and  the  benediction  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  all  go  back  to  the  synagogue.  The 
Jews  were  the  authors  of  preaching.  Here  "  we  have 
the  origin  of  the  '  homily/  the  *  sermon, 'says  Stan- 
ley,— "  that  is,  the  serious  *  conversation  ' — which  has 
now  struck  so  deep  a  root  in  the  Jewish,  the  Mus- 
sulman, and  the  Christian  communities  that  we  can 
hardly  imagine  them  to  have  existed  without  it."* 
The  Greek  intellect  profoundly  influenced  both  the 
form  and  the  substance  of  Christian  teaching;  but  the 
great  outlines  of  the  Christian  Church  were  boldly 
traced  in  the  Jewish  development  long  before  the 
Christian  community  began  to  exist. 

No  society  can  endure  without  ordinances.  There 
must,  at  least,  be  a  formal  initiation.  Jesus,  although 
He  placed  a  relatively  low  valuation  upon  positive 
appointments,  recognized  the  necessity,  and  gave 
such  appointments  to  the  Church.  And  here  again, 
at  least  in  respect  to  the  ordinance  that  finally  marked 
the  formal  admission  of  the  disciple  into  the  spiritual 
society,  He  borrowed  a  rite  that  had  long  been  in  use, 
certainly  in  Judaea,  and  no  doubt  far  beyond  its  bor- 
ders. The  Law  had  prescribed  that  the  Jew  who  had 
become  levitically  defiled  should  baptize  himself  be- 
fore offering  sacrifice.!  At  a  later  day  proselytes  of 
righteousness,  or  proselytes  of  the  covenant,  were  ad- 

*  History  of  the  Jewish  Church,  Lect.  1. 
t  Exodus  xix.  10,  14. 


110  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

mitted  to  full  participation  in  the  privileges  of  the 
Chosen  People  on  condition  of  their  being  circum- 
cised and  baptized  and  offering  sacrifice.  Immersion 
in  water  was  the  formal  acknowledgment  of  moral 
defilement  that  was  thus  symbolically  washed  away. 
Baptism  had  now  become  a  recognized  religious  insti- 
tution. The  next  step  was  taken  by  John:  he  called 
upon  the  whole  nation  to  be  baptized,  and  at  the  same 
time  distinctly  elevated  the  character  and  significance 
of  the  rite.  "  Then  went  out  to  him  Jerusalem,  and 
all  Judaea,  and  all  the  region  round  about  Jordan,  and 
were  baptized  of  him  in  Jordan,  confessing  their 
sins."  *  Henceforth  water  baptism  was  associated 
symbolically  with  moral  regeneration.  John  also 
hinted  that  the  rite  should  take  on  a  higher  signifi- 
cance. "I  indeed  baptize  you  with  water  unto  repent- 
ance :  but  He  that  cometh  after  me  is  mightier  than 
I,  whose  shoes  I  am  not  worthy  to  bear:  He  shall 
baptize  you  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  fire."t 
When  Jesus  Himself  submitted^to  baptism  "to  fulfill 
all  righteousness,"  He  gave  the  rite  the  most  univer- 
sal character.  One  of  the  Gospels  informs  us  that  He 
employed  baptism  Himself  from  the  beginning  of 
His  ministry,  or  rather  authorized  His  disciples  to 
baptize  the  converts  whom  He  had  made.  {  The  ex- 
act significance  of  this  baptism  is  nowhere  pointed 
out,  but  it  was  perhaps  accompanied  with  a  profes- 
sion of  faith  in  Him  as  the  Messiah.  The  commis- 
sion marks  the  widest  extension  and  loftiest  meaning 
that  baptism  could  attain.  "Go  ye,  therefore,  and 

*  Matt.  Hi.  5,6.  fMatt.  iii.  11. 

J  John  iv.  1,2. 


HIS  INSTITUTIONS.  Ill 

teach  all  nations,  baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the 
Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost." 

The  early  history  of  baptism  is  shrouded  in  obscur- 
ity. Renan  connects  it  with  the  ancient  Sabianism, 
which  he  declares  to  have  been  a  religion  of  frequent 
baptisms.  "It  is  very  difficult,"  he  says,  "to  follow 
out  these  vague  analogies.  The  sects  floating  between 
Judaism,  Christianity,  Baptism,  and  Sabianism,  which 
we  find  in  the  region  beyond  Jordan  during  the  first 
centuries  of  our  era,  present  to  the  critic,  from  the 
confusion  of  the  accounts  which  have  come  to  us, 
the  most  singular  problem.  We  may  believe,  in  any 
event,  that  many  of  the  external  practices  of  John, 
of  the  Essenes,  and  of  the  Jewish  spiritual  preceptors 
of  the  time,  came  from  a  recent  influence  of  the 
upper  East.  The  fundamental  rite  which  character- 
ized the  sect  of  John,  and  which  gave  him  his  name, 
has  always  had  its  center  in  Lower  Chaldea,  and  there 
constitutes  a  religion  which  has  been  perpetuated  to 
our  day."  *  According  to  Stanley,  the  Essenes,  who 
came  near  to  confounding  cleanliness  and  godliness, 
were  the  first  to  recognize  the  rite  as  a  universal  one. 
This  is  his  description: 

' '  The  badges  of  initiation  were  the  apron  or  towel  for  wiping 
themselves  after  the  bath,  the  hatchet  for  digging  holes  to  put 
away  filth.  Some  Churches  in  later  days  have  insisted  on  the  ab- 
solute necessity  of  immersion  once  in  a  life .  But  not  only  did 
the  Essenes  go  through  the  bath  on  their  first  admission ,  but  day 
by  day  the  same  cleansing  process  was  undergone  ;  day  by  day  it 
was  held  unlawful  even  to  name  the  name  of  God  without  the 
preliminary  baptism ;  day  by  day  fresh  white  clothes  were  put 
on  ;  day  by  day,  after  the  slightest  occasion,  they  bathed  again. 

*  Life  of  Jesus,  Chap.  vi. 


112  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

Down  to  the  minutest  points  cleanliness  was  the  one  sacramental 
sign.  The  primitive  Christians  had  their  daily  communion  ;  the 
Essenes  had  their  daily  baptism.  In  the  deep  bed  of  the  neigh- 
boring Jordan,  in  the  warm  springs  and  the  crystal  streams  of 
Engedi,  in  the  rivulets  and  the  tanks  of  Jericho,  they  had  ample 
opportunities  for  this  purification  which  in  the  dry  hills  and 
streets  of  Jerusalem  they  would  have  lacked.  * 

It  is  well  known  that  water  has  had  a  most  exten- 
sive cleansing  and  symbolical  use  in  connection  with 
religion,  and  particularly  in  the  Orient.  There  is 
nothing  strange  in  the  fact  that  baptism  should  as- 
sume the  place  that  it  did  in  Jewish  history.  The 
important  fact  for  us  to  note,  as  Stanley  puts  it,  is 
that  "the  ordinance  of  baptism  was  founded  on  the 
Jewish — we  may  say  the  Oriental — custom  which,  both 
in  ancient  and  modern  times,  regards  ablution,  cleans- 
ing of  the  hands,  the  face,  and  the  person,  at  once  as 
a  means  of  health  and  as  a  sign  of  purity."  f  For 
Jesus  to  adopt  the  rite  and  adapt  it  to  His  purpose, 
was  strictly  in  accord  with  His  usual  method  of  pro- 
cedure; or,  as  the  author  just  quoted  remarks: 
"Here,  as  elsewhere,  the  Founder  of  Christianity 
chose  rather  to  sanctify  and  elevate  what  already  ex- 
isted than  to  create  and  invent  a  new  form  for  Him- 
self." 

It  is  equally  obvious  that  the  Lord's  Supper  and 
the  Lord's  Day  are  outgrowths  of  the  Jewish  passover 
and  the  Jewish  Sabbath.  The  new  institutions  are 
changed  in  form  and  in  meaning;  but  it  is  manifest 
that  the  distinctively  Christian  ideas  have  been  devel- 
oped from  the  older  Jewish  ideas. 

*  History  of  the  Jewish  Church,  Leot.  1. 
t  Christian  Institutions,  chap.  I. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

HIS   AUTHORITY. 

AT  the  close  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  as  re- 
ported by  Matthew,  we  read:  "And  it  came  to  pass, 
when  Jesus  had  ended  these  sayings,  the  people 
were  astonished  at  His  doctrine :  for  He  taught  them 
as  one  having  authority,  and  not  as  the  scribes."  And 
well  might  the  people  be  astonished !  Such  sayings 
they  had  not  before  heard,  such  authority  not  seen. 
The  nature  and  source  of  the  authority  that  distin- 
guishes Jesus  so  strongly  from  the  Scribes  constitute 
the  subject  of  the  present  chapter. 

And  first,  it  will  hardly  do  to  state  the  difference 
between  Jesus  and  the  Scribes  in  this  manner:  He 
taught  with  authority,  while  they  did  not.  The  truth 
is  that  they  did  teach  with  authority,  and  a  great  deal 
of  it.  Jesus  Himself  recognized  this  fact,  recognized, 
moreover,  the  authority  itself.  He  said  to  His  disci- 
ples: "The  Scribes  and  the  Pharisees  sit  in  Moses's 
seat:  all  therefore  whatsoever  they  bid  you  observe, 
that  observe  and  do ;  but  do  not  ye  after  their  works : 
for  they  say,  and  do  not.  For  they  bind  heavy  bur- 
dens and  grievous  to  be  borne,  and  lay  them  on  men's 
shoulders;  but  they  themselves  will  not  move  them 
with  one  of  their  fingers."  *  This  is  an  unmistakable 

•Matt,  xxiii.  2-4. 
8  (113) 


114  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

recognition  of  the  Rabbis  as  the  official  representa- 
tives of  the  existing  system  of  teaching.  The  disci- 
ples were  to  do  what  they  said,  even  to  the  extent  of 
bearing  the  burdens  that  they  imposed,  because  they 
sat  in  Moses's  seat,  the  seat  of  authority.  We  must, 
therefore,  search  more  closely  to  discover  what  it  was 
that  so  widely  separated  Jesus  from  the  Scribes.  We 
shall  find  it  in  the  kind  of  authority  that  they  re- 
spectively exercised. 

1.  There   is  the   authority   of  testimony.     Every 
man  of  intelligence  knows  a  multitude  of  things  that 
transcend  his  own  personal  experience,   as  facts  of 
science,  travel,  and  history.     He  receives  these  facts 
either  at  first  or  second  hand  from  those  whom  he  re- 
gards as  competent  witnesses.    Against  authority  such 
as  this  there  is  nothing  to  be  said.      It  is  plainly  nec- 
essary to  the  progress  of  knowledge,  if  not  indeed  to 
its  very  existence.      The  point  to  be  guarded  is  the 
character  of  the  testimony  to  be  received. 

2.  There  is  the  authority  of  opinion  or  judgment. 
A  man  who  has  mastered  a  given  subject  becomes  an 
authority  in  respect  thereto,  and  on  occasion  renders 
expert  opinions;    a  physician  in  relation  to  disease,  a 
lawyer  in  relation  to  the  law,  a  merchant  or  banker  in 
relation  to  business   matters.      In  such  testimony  as 
this,  two  elements  blend — one  of  fact  and  one  of  in- 
ference or  reason;  and  the  value  of  the  expert's  opin- 
ion,  supposing  him  to  be  honest,  depends  upon  his 
acquaintance   with    the  facts    of    the   case   and  the 
soundness  of  his  judgment.       Plainly,  this   kind  of 
authority  is  also  indispensable  in  every  practical  walk 
of  life.     Children   must  depend  upon  the   superior 


HIS  AUTHORITY.  115 

knowledge  and  judgment  of  their  parents  and  teach- 
ers, ami  the  unlearned  or  unpracticed  in  any  subject 
upon  those  who  are  learned  or  practiced.  Pushed  to 
an  extreme,  however,  the  authority  of  opinion  be- 
comes the  source  of  great  harm,  as  the  history  of 
science,  morals,  politics,  and  religion  abundantly 
shows.  It  begets  arrogance  and  oppression  on  the 
one  part,  weakness  and  slavishness  on  the  other.  No 
bounds  can  be  set  to  its  proper  exercise,  so  much  de- 
pends upon  circumstances.  In  the  religious  sphere, 
its  extreme  exercise  is  the  antithesis  of  soul-liberty. 
It  is  also  to  be  observed  that  the  authority  of  opinion 
and  the  authority  of  witness  often  blend;  facts  fur- 
nish the  basis  of  judgment,  while  judgment  is  exer- 
cised in  the  acceptance  of  facts. 

3.  There  is  the  authority  of  position  or  station. 
Reference  is  not  now  made  to  power  over  men's  bod- 
ies, but  to  power  over  their  minds.  The  authority  of 
position  is  perhaps  commonly  accompanied  by  the 
authority  of  opinion,  but  by  no  means  uniformly  so. 
Weighty  are  the  words  that  fall  from  the  chair  (ex 
cathedra).  The  words  of  a  teacher,  or  of  a  physician, 
are  sometimes  accepted  as  valuable  when  they  are 
worthless,  merely  because  he  is  a  teacher  or  a  physician. 
So  it  is  with  the  preacher  and  the  judge — in  fact,  with 
everybody  who  holds  a  position  of  authority.  While 
we  cannot  deny  that  this  species  of  authority  has  a 
legitimate  place,  we  should  not  fail  to  overlook  the 
fact  that  it  plays  in  the  world  a  part  greatly  dispro- 
portionate to  its  value. 

Authority  in  the  academical  sense  is  a  blending  of 
opinion  and  position.  It  centers  in  a  person  ulti- 


116  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

mately.  Mallem  cum  Platone  errare,  says  the 
proverb.  Time  lends  its  powerful  reinforcement. 
Age  gives  weight  and  dignity  to  a  man,  to  an  institu- 
tion, to  an  opinion,  to  a  faith,  or  system.  The  result 
is  the  establishment  of  a  tradition,  which  derives  its 
authority  partly  from  its  supposed  author  and  partly 
from  its  age.  This  was  the  authority  of  the  School- 
men. Aristotle  had  legislated  for  philosophy,  the 
Fathers  for  theology.  When  Scheiner,  the  monk  who 
contests  with  Galileo  the  honor  of  having  been  the 
first  to  observe  spots  on  the  disc  of  the  sun,  told  the 
superior  of  his  order  what  he  had  seen,  he  received 
the  solemn  reply:  "I  have  searched  through  Aristo- 
tle, and  can  find  nothing  of  the  kind  mentioned:  be 
assured,  therefore,  that  it  is  a  deception  of  your 
senses  or  of  your  glasses."  *  Church  authority  was 
opposed  to  the  discoveries  of  Galileo.  It  would  be 
hard  to  measure  the  mischief  that  the  principle  of 
authority  has  worked  in  either  science  or  religion,  or 
to  state  in  which  sphere  it  has  been  the  greater. 

4.  There  is  the  authority  -of  intuition.  The  word 
may  not  be  well  chosen,  but  I  can  think  of  none  bet- 
ter. There  is  such  a  thing  as  an  immediate  insight 
into  truth, — an  insight  that  is  not  at  least  directly  de- 
pendent upon  the  slow  and  laborious  process  of  gath- 
ering facts  and  deducing  conclusions  from  them.  The 
proper  field  of  intuition  is  the  field  of  the  spirit.  It 
exists  in  men  in  very  different  degrees;  but  every 
man  of  real  reason  has  something  of  it,  has  some- 
thing that  he  holds  as  truth,  the  origin  of  which,  in 
his  own  mind,  he  cannot  fully  explain,  or  which  he 

*  Fowler's  Inductive  Logic,  p.  270. 


HIS   AUTHORITY.  117 

i 

cannot  defend,  except  to  say:  "  I  see  it  to  be  so." 
Women  are  said  to  surpass  men  in  such  insight.  In- 
tuition has  been  the  cause  of  vast  harm  to  the  world; 
at  the  same  time,  if  men  had  refused  to  follow  the 
great  intuitive  minds  of  history,  there  could  hardly 
have  been  such  a  thing  as  progress. 

The  higher  manifestations  of  spiritual  intuition  we 
call  inspiration  and  revelation.  These  are  exempli- 
fied in  the  Hebrew  prophets.  We  do  not  think  of 
Isaiah  or  Jeremiah  as  toilsomely  thinking  out  his 
prophecies.  They  flash  upon  him — he  sees  them — he 
has  a  vision;  he  speaks  the  vision,  he  writes  it,  makes 
it  plain;  his  book  is  the  book  of  the  vision.  Where- 
in the  vision  of  the  prophet  differs  from  the  vision 
of  the  seer,  has  never  been  satisfactorily  explained, 
and  perhaps  cannot  be;  we  recognize  the  difference, 
but  cannot  fully  analyze  it.  We  say  the  range  of  the 
prophet  is  higher  and  broader;  but  if  we  have  any 
spiritual  discernment,  and  are  not  blinded  by  preju- 
dice, we  frankly  acknowledge  that  the  greatest  of  the 
seers  have  stood  near  to  the  border-land  of  inspira- 
tion. 

Still  another  fact  must  be  recognized :  the  intuitive 
perception  of  truth  gives  a  man  clearness  and  cour- 
age. The  man  who  slowly  thinks  his  way  to  a  conclu- 
sion will  hardly  be  able  to  divest  his  mind  of  the  fear 
that  he  may  have  overlooked  some  fact,  may  have 
laid  upon  it  too  much  stress,  or  have  committed  some 
other  fault;  but  the  man  who  sees  is  not  similarly 
haunted.  Seeing  is  believing.  How  clear  and  full 
the  stream  flows  in  The  Old  Testament  prophets! 
We  feel  that  they  enjoyed  an  open  vision  of  truth. 


118  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

And  it  is  in  these  facts  that  the  authority  of  intuition, 
or,  let  us  now  say,  of  inspiration,  originates.  This 
fourth  kind  of  authority  may  or  may  not  stand  alone. 
In  some  repects  the  authority  of  intuition  is  very  like 
the  authority  of  witness. 

With  these  thoughts  before  us,  we  shall  have  no 
difficulty  in  understanding  the  strikingly  different  im- 
pressions that  Jesus  and  the  Scribes  made  upon  the 
minds  of  the  Jewish  multitude. 

First,  the  authority  of  the  Scribes  was  compounded 
of  opinion  and  position.  They  sat  in  Moses's  seat, 
and  so  spoke  ex  cathedra;  they  studied  the  Law,  and 
the  existing  body  of  tradition,  and  so  spoke  with  the 
authority  of  scholarship.  ''The  wisdom  of  the 
learned  men  cometh  by  opportunity  of  leisure,"  says 
Ecclesiasticus,  "and  he  that  hath  little  business  shall 
become  wise."  Their  teachings  lacked  spontaneity — 
lacked  freshness  and  vigor — lacked  originality,  free- 
dom, and  force ;  lacked  indeed  everything  that  can 
commend  moral  or  religious  discourse  to  the  hearts  of 
earnest  men.  They  exemplified  refinement  and  sub- 
tlety, endless  analysis,  inference,  legal  fiction,  and 
splitting  of  hairs,  much  as  the  Schoolmen  did  cen- 
turies after.  No  doubt  they  taught  some  good  max- 
ims and  enforced  them ;  but  on  the  whole  a  banquet 
at  the  table  that  the  Rabbis  spread  was  little  more 
than  a  barmecide  feast.  "Narrow,  dogmatic,  mate- 
rial;" "cold  in  manner,  frivolous  in  matter,  second- 
hand, iterative  in  its  very  essence ;  with  no  freshness 
in  it,  no  force,  no  fire;  servile  to  all  authority,  op- 
posed to  all  independence;  at  once  erudite  and  fool- 
ish, at  once  contemptuous  and  mean ;  never  passing  a 


HIS   AUTHORITY.  119 

hair's  breadth  beyond  the  carefully-watched  boundary 
line  of  commentary  and  precedent,  full  of  balanced 
inference  and  orthodox  hesitancy,  and  impossible  lit- 
eralism; intricate  with  legal  pettiness  and  labyrinthine 
system;  elevating  mere  memory  above  genius,  and  rep- 
etition above  originality;  concerned  only  about  priests 
and  Pharisees,  in  Temple  and  synagogue,  or  school,  or 
Sanhedrim,  and  mostly  occupied  with  things  infinite- 
ly small;"  * 'occupied  a  thousandfold  more  with 
Levitical  minutiae  about  mint,  and  anise,  and  cum- 
min, and  the  length  of  fringes,  and  the  breadth  of 
phylacteries,  and  the  washing  of  cups  and  platters, 
and  the  particular  quarter  of  a  second  when  new 
moons  and  Sabbath  days  began," — such  is  Farrar's 
characterization  of  the  teaching  of  the  Scribes.*  Or 
to  give  Dr.  Geike's  summing  up: 

'  'No  wonder  that  when  He  had  finished  such  an  address,  the 
multitude  were  astonished  at  His  teaching.  They  had  been  ac  - 
customed  to  the  tame  and  slavish  servility  of  the  Rabbis,  with 
their  dread  of  varying  a  word  from  precedent  and  authority ; 
their  cobwebbery  of  endless  sophistries  and  verbal  trifling ;  their 
laborious  dissertations  on  the  infinitely  little ;  their  unconscious 
oversight  of  all  that  could  affect  the  heart ;  their  industrious 
trackings  through  the  jungles  of  tradition  and  prescription ; 
and  felt  that  in  the  preaching  of  Jesus,  they,  for  the  first  time, 
had  something  that  stirred  their  souls ,  and  came  home  to  their 
consciences.  One  of  the  Rabbis  had  boasted  that  every  verse  of 
the  Bible  was  capable  of  six  hundred  thousand  different  expla- 
nations ,  and  there  were  seventy  different  modes  of  interpretation 
current,  but  the  vast  mass  of  explanations  and  interpretations 
were  no  better  than  pedantic  folly,  concerning  itself  with  mere 
insignificant  minutiae  which  had  no  bearing  on  religion  or  mor- 
als. Instead  of  this,  Jesus  had  spoken  as  a  legislator,  vested 
with  greater  authority  than  Moses.  To  transmit,  unchanged, 

*  The  Life  of  Christ,  Vol.  I. ,  pp.  266,  267. 


120  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

the  traditions  received  from  the  past,  was  the  one  idea  of  all 
other  teachers ;  but  He,  while  reverent,  was  not  afraid  to  criti- 
cise, to  reject,  and  to  supplement.  To  venture  on  originality 
and  independence  was  something  hitherto  unknown. ' '  * 

At  every  point  Jesus  opposed  a  bold  contrast  to  the 
Rabbinical  method.  He  was  not  as  the  Scribes.  His 
authority  borrowed  nothing  from  opinion  and  nothing 
from  position.  There  was  in  it  no  voice  from  the 
chair,  no  learning  of  the  schools. 

It  was  a  blending  of  testimony  and  intuition. 
There  is  no  delay  or  hesitation ;  no  feeble  reasoning 
or  cautious  inference;  no  trace  of  doubt  or  uncer- 
tainty. He  spoke  what  He  had  seen  in  an  open  vis- 
ion. His  teaching  was  as  spontaneous  as  new.  His 
story  about  the  spiritual  world  ran  as  freely  as  the 
tale  of  the  traveler  who  returns  from  a  distant  land. 
He  did  not  copy  the  Rabbis  or  use  their  dreary  learn- 
ing; He  said  nothing  about  Moses  and  the  Prophets, 
but  to  expand  and  apply  their  teaching.  Six  times  in 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  He  opposes  to  the  current 
perversion  of  the  Law,  or  to  the  tradition  of  the 
Elders,  that  impressive  formula,  "But  I  say  unto 
you,"  with  which  the  new  era  begins.  There  were  in 
His  teachings,  as  Farrar  says,  "no  definitions,"  or 
"explanations,  or  'scholastic  systems,'  or  philosophic 
theorizing,  or  implicated  mazes  of  difficult  and 
dubious  discussion.  .  .  .  Springing  from  the 
depths  of  holy  emotions,  it  thrilled  the  being  of  every 
listener  as  with  an  electric  flame.  In  a  word,  its  au- 
thority was  the  authority  of  the  Divine  Incarnate;  it 
was  a  Voice  of  God,  speaking  in  the  utterance  of 

*Life  and  Words  of  Christ,  Chap,  xxxvii. 


HIS   AUTHORITY.  121 

man ;  its  austere  purity  was  yet  pervaded  with  tender- 
est  sympathy,  and  its  awful  severity  with  an  unut- 
terable love."  * 

It  has  been  well  said  that,  in  the  earlier  time,  proph- 
ets and  righteous  men  looked  for  their  guidance  in 
times  of  religious  need,  not  to  a  written  book  and  its 
scholastic  interpretation,  but  to  a  fresh  word  of  rev- 
elation, t  The  history  of  the  Chosen  People  justified 
this  expectation.  But  after  the  time  of  Ezra  the 
Jews  had  a  dim  sort  of  consciousness  that  the  age  of 
revelation  was  past,  and  that  the  age  of  tradition  had 
begun.  In  time  the  Spirit  wholly  departed  from 
Israel/  Creative  power,  or  spiritual  originality,  gave 
way  to  criticism  and  commentary.  The  difference 
between  the  prophet  and  the  scribe  was  too  unmis- 
takable not  to  be  felt.  The  teaching  of  Jesus  revived 
the  earlier  period,  and  the  authority  that  the  multi- 
tude found  in  His  words  flowed  from  the  demonstra- 
tive power  of  revelation. 

Those  are  very  significant  passages  in  the  Gospels 
in  which  men  query  whether  the  new  Prophet  were 
not  an  old  one  come  back  to  earth.  Some  said  He 
was  Elijah,  some  Jeremiah,  some  one  of  the  other 
prophets.  There  were  even  those  who  believed  Him 
to  be  John  the  Baptist.  Similar  questions  had  been 
asked  about  John  himself.  Prophecy  had  become  so 
completely  extinct — the  Spirit  had  so  utterly  de- 
parted from  Israel — that  it  was  apparently  assumed 
by  many  that  a  new  prophet  was  an  impossibility. 
But  there  was  no  mistaking  the  decisive  note  that  the 

*  Life  of  Christ,  Vol.  I. ,  p.  268. 

t  Smith:    The  Old  Testament  in  the  Jewish  Church,  Lect.  VI. 


122  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

Prophets,  that  John,  and  that  Jesus  all  struck.  It 
was  the  note  of  conscious  power  and  of  a  Divine  mis- 
sion. This  note  it  was  that,  most  of  all,  made  the 
men  who  heard  the  Master  wonder  and  question  who 
He  could  be.  It  constituted  His  authority,  as  it  had 
constituted  the  authority  of  Moses  and  Samuel,  and 
the  long  line  of  prophets  who  succeeded  them. 

Such  was  the  authority  of  Him  who  spake  as  man 
never  spake.  It  has  been  said  of  the  Gentiles,  that 
Christianity  was  helped  forward  by  the  current  re- 
action against  pure  speculation — the  longing  for  cer 
tainty.  The  mass  of  men  were  sick  of  theories..  They 
wanted  certainty.  The  current  teaching  of  the 
Christian  teachers  gave  them  certainty.  Something 
so  it  was  with  the  Jews  who  heard  Jesus  gladly. 
They  were  sick  of  the  Rabbinical  scholasticism ;  they 
had  thereby  been  led  away  from  the  personal  trust 
that  had  constituted  the  primitive  faith.  They 
heard  much  about  religion,  and  desired  to  see  the 
thing  itself;  they  longed  to  hear  one  who,  like  the 
Prophets,  had  had  an  open  vision  of  truth,  and  Jesus 
met  and  satisfied  the  want.  The  sad  thing  about  it  all 
is  that,  notwithstanding  the  pains  which  He  constant- 
ly took  to  fortify  His  disciples  and  forefend  the 
Church  which  He  founded,  they  have  to  a  great 
degree  repeated  the  old  mistake. 

In  reflecting  upon  the  passage  that  has  suggested 
this  chapter,  we  must  remember  that  the  standpoint 
of  the  men  who  heard  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  was 
quite  different  from  the  standpoint  of  Christian  be- 
lievers who  read  that  sermon  to-day.  Jesus  was  not 


HIS   AUTHORITY.  123 

then  invested  with  the  authority  that  He  now  wields 
over  the  Christian  mind.  The  present  object  is  to 
explain  the  authority  that  the  men  who  heard  the 
sermon  actually  found  in  it,  and  not  the  authority 
that  we  may  find,  or  that  we  ought  to  find,  in  it.  I  s^" 
deal  with  facts,  and  not  with  views  or  theories.  Still 
more  broadly,  the  reader  must  remember  that  my  aim 
is  to  explain  some  phases  of  the  Master's  chafacter 
and  teaching  as  they  appeared  to  men  who  saw  and 
heard  Him,  and  not  to  explain  the  creeds  or  views  of 
Christians  in  a  distant  century. 


CHAPTER  X. 

HIS    USE    OF    ACCOMMODATION. 

This  is  one  of  Dr.  Neander's  titles.  How  sugges- 
tive and  significant  it  is,  how  much  of  the  philosophy 
of  real  teaching  it  contains,  we  shall  see  in  part  as  we 
proceed  with  the  topic.  Those  who  desire  a  fuller 
view  are  referred  to  Neander's  own  treatment. 

"When  truth  takes  the  form  of  mediating, "  says 
Dr.  Lange,  "it  becomes  teaching  (doctrine).  The 
teacher  as  such  is  a  mediator  between  the  light  that  is 
intrusted  to  him  and  the  eyes  of  the  spirit  which  he 
has  to  illuminate  with  this  light.  He  must  construct  a 
bridge  between  the  heights  of  knowledge  and  the  low 
level  of  germinating  thought.  But  as  Christ  is  gen- 
erally the  Mediator  between  God  and  humanity,  so  is 
He  also  specially,  as  a  teacher,  the  Mediator  between 
the  Divine  counsels  and  human  thought.  He  is  the 
Teacher:  this  is  involved  in  His  whole  character;  this 
He  proves  by  His  ministry  and  operations."  * 

Obviously  any  successful  attempt  at  mediation  be- 
tween the  truth  on  the  one  side  and  a  human  mind  on 
the  other,  implies  that  the  teacher  shall  make  use  of 
accommodation.  An  effort  to  communicate  anything 
to  a  man  in  any  language,  as  the  Hebrew  or  Greek,  is 

*  Life  of  Christ,  Vol.  II. ,  p.  172. 
(124) 


HIS  USE  OF  ACCOMMODATION.  125 

an  act  of  accommodation.  This  is  as  true  of  a  relig- 
ious teacher  as  of  any  other  teacher.  It  is  in  this 
spirit  that  The  Bible  speaks  of  the  head,  the  arm,  and 
the  eye  of  God,  and  makes  use  of  other  anthropo- 
morphic language.  More  than  this,  successful  com- 
munication from  God  to  man  involves,  on  the  part  of 
His  minister  or  mediator,  the  use  of  all  our  familiar 
laws  and  methods  of  teaching.  As  Dr.  Neander 
states  the  case : 

We  must  mention  Christ's  adaptation  of  His  instruction  to 
the  capacity  of  His  hearers,  as  one  of  the  peculiar  features  of 
His  mode  of  teaching.  Without  such  accommodation,  indeed, 
there  can  be  no  such  thing  as  instruction.  The  teacher  must 
begin  upon  a  ground  common  to  his  pupils,  with  principles  pre- 
supposed as  known  to  them,  in  order  to  extend  the  sphere  of 
their  knowledge  to  further  truths.  He  must  lower  himself  to 
them,  in  order  to  raise  them  to  himself.  As  the  true  and  the 
false  are  commingled  in  their  conceptions,  he  must  seize  upon 
the  true  as  his  point  of  departure ,  in  order  to  disengage  it  from 
the  encumbering  false.  So  to  the  child  the  man  becomes  a 
child,  and  explains  the  truth  in  a  form  adapted  to  its  age,  by 
making  use  of  its  childish  conceptions  as  a  veil  for  it.  * 

This  was  the  more  necessary,  as  the  same  writer 
points  out,  because  it  was  not  the  purpose  of  Jesus 
"to  impart  a  complete  system  of  doctrine  as  a  mere 
dead  tradition,  but  rather  to  stimulate  men's  minds 
to  a  living  appropriation  and  development  of  the 
truth  which  He  revealed,  by  means  of  the  powers  with 
which  God  had  endowed  them."  All  His  methods  of 
teaching  were  chosen  with  this  necessity  in  mind. 
The  process  of  teaching  is  not  in  reality  a  process  of 
imparting  or  conveying  ideas  and  thoughts  from  one 
mind  to  another;  it  is,  rather,  as  Socrates  considered 

*  Life  of  Jesus  Christ,  p.  113.    N.  Y. ,  1863. 


126  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

it,  a  process  of  giving  birth  and  development  to  ideas 
and  thoughts  already  existing  in  germ  and  rudiment 
in  the  pupil's  own  mind.  Or,  to  change  the  figure,  it 
may  be  likened  to  the  process  of  grafting;  a  new  idea 
or  truth  is  set  like  a  cion  in  the  stock  of  an  old  idea 
or  truth.  Accommodation  assumes  two  different 
forms. 

1.  Intellectual  accommodation.  This  recognizes 
the  intellectual  limitations  of  the  pupil  and  strives  to 
meet  them.  It  is  the  selection  of  subject-matter  and 
of  methods  of  instruction  with  reference  to  his  capa- 
bilities. It  is  a  point  where  great  scholars  sometimes 
fail.  For  example,  the  late  Dr.  Andrew  P.  Peabody, 
in  his  "Harvard  Reminiscences,"  *  gives  a  sketch  of 
Professor  Benjamin  Peirce,  perhaps  the  greatest 
mathematician  that  our  country  has  produced.  He 
relates  in  a  pleasing  manner  how  he  and  Peirce,  when 
young  tutors,  divided  between  them  for  a  year  the 
mathematical  instruction  given  in  the  college.  The 
following  extract  well  illustrates  how  a  teacher's  very 
mastery  of  his  subject  may  in  a  measure  stand  in  the 
way  of  his  success,  even  in  dealing  with  college  stu- 
dents : 

He  took  to  himself  the  instruction  of  the  Freshmen.  The 
instruction  of  the  other  three  classes  we  shared,  each  of  us 
taking  two  of  the  four  sections  into  which  the  class  was  divided, 

and  interchanging  our  sections  every  fortnight In 

one  respect  I  was  Mr.  Peirce 's  superior,  solely  because  I  was  so 
very  far  his  inferior.  I  am  certain  that  I  was  the  better  in- 
structor of  the  two.  The  course  in  the  Sophomore  and  Junior 
years,  embracing  a  treatise  on  the  Differential  Calculus,  with 
references  to  the  calculus  in  the  text -books  on  mechanics  and 

*  Pp.  182-184. 


HIS  USE  OF  ACCOMMODATION.  127 

other  branches  of  mixed  mathematics,  was  hardly  within  the 
unaided  grasp  of  some  of  our  best  scholars  ;  and,  though  no  stu- 
dent dared  to  go  to  a  tutor's  room  by  daylight,  it  was  no  un- 
common thing  for  one  to  come  furtively  in  the  evening  to  ask 
his  teacher's  aid  in  some  difficult  problem  or  demonstration. 
For  this  purpose  resort  was  had  to  me  more  frequently  than  to 
my  colleague,  and  often  by  students  who  belonged  for  the  fort- 
night to  one  of  his  sections.  The  reason  was  obvious.  No  one 
was  more  cordially  ready  than  he  to  give  such  help  as  he  could ; 
but  his  intuition  of  the  whole  ground  was  so  keen  and  compre- 
hensive, that  he  could  not  take  cognizance  of  the  slow  and 
tentative  processes  of  mind  by  which  an  ordinary  learner  was 
compelled  to  make  his  step -by -step  progress.  In  his  explana- 
tions he  would  take  giant  strides,  and  his  frequent  '  'You  see' ' 
indicated  what  he  saw  clearly,  but  that  of  which  his  pupil  could 
get  hardly  a  glimpse.  I,  on  the  other  hand,  though  fond  of 
mathematical  study,  was  yet  so  far  from  being  a  proficient  in 
the  more  advanced  parts  of  the  course,  that  I  studied  every  les- 
son as  patiently  and  thoroughly  as  any  of  my  pupils  could  have 
done.  I,  therefore,  knew  every  short  step  of  the  way  that  they 
would  be  obliged  to  take,  and  could  lead  them  in  the  very  foot- 
steps which  I  had  just  trodden  before  them. 

This  is  an  excellent  illustration  of  a  not  unfrequent 
mistake.  Over-estimating  the  pupil's  ability,  the 
teacher  sometimes  gives  him  too  much  matter,  or 
matter  that  he  is  not  capable  of  receiving  in  any 
quantity.  Like  Mr.  Peirce,  he  says,  "You  see," 
"  You  see,"  when  the  pupil  sees  nothing  but  the  rapid 
disappearance  of  the  enthusiastic  instructor  in  the 
distance.  A  "dropper"  is  a  better  instrument  than 
a  hose-pipe  with  which  to  fill  a  wine-glass. 

It  is  interesting  to  observe  how  Jesus  guards  this 
point  of  danger.  By  selection  of  matter,  by  choice  of 
methods,  by  repeating  lessons  in  new  forms,  by  vary- 
ing illustrations,  by  explaining  to  the  interested  in- 


128  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

quirer  in  private  what  has  been  said  in  public,  by 
estimating  the  capability  of  the  hearer  and  adapting 
Himself  to  it,  He  accommodates  Himself  to  both  the 
casual  hearer  and  to  the  disciple  who  waits  on  His 
ministry.  How  significant  to  the  experienced  teacher 
are  such  passages  as  these:  "  I  have  yet  many  things 
to  say  unto  you,  but  ye  cannot  bear  them  now."* 
"With  many  such  parables  spake  He  the  word  unto 
them,  as  they  were  able  to  hear  it."  f  Numerous  are 
the  intimations  of  His  withholding  truth  until,  by 
reason  of  fuller  knowledge  and  larger  growth,  His 
disciples  should  be  able  to  receive  it.  Nor  are  these 
intimations  the  least  significant  things  in  the  story. 
He  also  fully  recognizes  the  fact  that  not  all  hearers 
can  accept  His  teaching.  "All  men  cannot  receive 

this  saying,  save  they  to  whom  it  is  given 

He  that  is  able  to  receive  it,  let  him  receive  it."  j 

Neander  makes  a  very  important  distinction  be- 
tween what  he  calls  positive  or  material  accommoda- 
tion and  negative  or  formal  accommodation.  The 
first  involves  a  yielding  of  substance,  the  second  of 
form  only.  Positive  accommodation  cannot  be  de- 
fended on  the  ground  that  the  end  sanctifies  the 
means.  Such  accommodation  as  this  was  utterly  re- 
pugnant to  the  holy  nature  of  Him  who  called  Him- 
self The  Truth,  and  there  is  no  trace  of  it  in  His 
teachings.  But  while  He  never  sanctioned  error,  or 
taught  it  because  it  would  be  readily  received,  He 
never  adopted  the  principle  that  all  truth  must  be 
taught  at  all  times,  at  all  places,  or  to  all  persons. 
On  the  other  hand,  He  fully  recognized  the  principle 

*  John  xvl.  12.  t  Mark  iv.  33.  J  Matt.  ilx.  11,  12. 


HIS   USE  OF  ACCOMMODATION.  129 

of  relativity  or  opportuneness.  In  respect  to  calling 
things  their  common  names,  to  using  words  in  their 
accepted  acceptation,  and  to  conforming  to  all  the 
ordinary  modes  of  speech,  He  allowed  Himself  the 
fullest  liberty.  To  quote  Neander  again: 

It  is  quite  a  different  thing  with  the  negative  and  formal 
accommodation.  As  Christ's  sole  calling  as  a  teacher  was  to 
implant  the  fundamental  truths  of  the  kingdom  of  God  in  the 
human  consciousness,  He  could  not  stop  by  the  way  to  battle 
with  errors  utterly  unconnected  with  His  object,  and  remote 
from  the  interests  of  religion  and  morality.  Thus  He  made  use 
of  common  terms  and  expressions  without  entering  into  an 
examination  of  all  the  false  notions  that  might  be  attached  to 
them.  He  called  diseases,  for  instance,  by  the  names  in  com- 
mon use ;  but  we  should  not  be  justified  in  concluding  that  He 
thereby  stamped  with  His  Divine  authority  the  ordinary  notions 
of  their  origin,  as  implied  in  the  names.  Nor  does  His  citation 
of  the  books  of  The  Old  Testament  by  the  accustomed  titles  im- 
ply any  sanction  on  His  part  of  the  prevalent  opinions  in  regard 
to  their  authors.  We  must  never  forget  that  His  words,  as  He 
Himself  has  told  us,  are  Spirit  and  Life;  and  that  no  scribe  of 
the  old  Rabbinical  school,  no  slave  to  the  letter,  can  rightly 
comprehend  and  apply  them.* 

The  fact  that  Jesus  mentions  a  book  called  Isaiah, 
and  quotes  from  it,  proves  that  such  a  book  was  in 
use  in  His  time;  but  it  no  more  proves  that  Isaiah 
wrote  the  book  in  whole,  or  even  in  part,  than  the 
phrases,  "the  sun  rose"  and  "the  sun  set,"  sprink- 
led so  liberally  over  the  pages  of  The  Bible,  prove 
that  the  sun  does  actually  rise  and  set.  There  could 
not  possibly  be  a  greater  mistake  than  to  suppose  that 
The  Bible  is  written  in  scientific  language.  The  truth 
is  that  no  book  in  the  world  makes  more  liberal  use 

*  Page  114. 


130  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

of  the  principle  of  intellectual  relativity  or  accommo- 
dation. 

2.  Accommodation  to  the  feelings.  The  impor- 
tance of  such  accommodation,  which  professional 
pedagogists,  to  say  nothing  of  practical  teachers,  do 
not  always  fully  recognize,  Jesus  understood  most 
profoundly. 

First,  He  recognized  and  taught  the  fact  that  the 
acceptance  of  religious  truth  depends  upon  the  moral 
disposition,  or  the  spiritual  tone  of  the  hearer.  He 
said:  "If  any  man  will  do  His  will  (or  is  willing  to 
do  His  will),  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine,  whether 
it  be  of  God,  or  whether  I  speak  of  myself."  * 
"Then  said  Jesus  to  those  Jews  which  believed  on 
Him,  If  ye  continue  in  my  word,  then  are  ye  my  disci- 
ples indeed;  and  ye  shall  know  the  truth,  and  the  truth 
shall  make  you  free."  f  These  passages  mean  that 
acceptance  of  the  teachings  of  Jesus  depends  upon  a 
certain  personal  relation  or  adjustment  to  Him. 
Doing  the  will,  or  willingness  to  do  the  will,  is  a  con- 
dition of  knowing  the  doctrine;  or,  as  that  great 
preacher,  F.  W.  Robertson,  put  the  thought  in  the 
title  of  one  of  his  sermons,  "Obedience  is  the  Organ 
of  Spiritual  Knowledge." 

That  Jesus  makes  this  demand  is  sometimes  urged 
as  an  objection  to  Him.  "  How  can  the  personal  rela- 
tion of  the  hearer  to  the  speaker,"  it  is  asked,  "  affect 
the  truth  or  the  reception  of  truth?"  Abstractly, 
it  is  not  so;  concretely,  it  is  so.  The  mental  attitude 
of  the  pupil  to  the  teacher  is  an  important  factor  in 
all  study,  and  particularly  in  those  studies  which  have 

*  John  vii.  17.  t  Ibid  viii.  31,  32. 


HIS  USE  OF  ACCOMMODATION.  131 

immediately  to  do  with  the  direction  of  conduct  or 
the  shaping  of  character.  Authority  involves  per- 
sonal confidence,  while  willingness  to  see  things 
through  a  writer's  or  actor's  eyes,  or  a  sort  of  sympa- 
thy with  him,  is  essential  to  right  interpretation.  The 
construction  that  we  put  upon  a  man's  words  and 
acts,  and  therefore  our  view  of  the  man  himself,  de- 
pends materially  upon  the  state  of  our  mind  towards 
him,  whether  well  disposed  or  otherwise.  There  is 
much  more  than  poetry  in  the  line, 

Truths  divine  came  mended  from  that  tongue. 

Speaking  of  literary  appreciation  and  criticism, 
Carlyle  has  well  said: 

We  have  not  read  an  author  till  we  have  seen  his  object, 
whatever  it  may  be,  as  he  saw  it.  Is  it  a  matter  of  reasoning, 
and  has  he  reasoned  stupidly  and  falsely?  We  should  under- 
stand the  circumstances  which ,  to  his  mind ,  made  it  seem  true , 
or  persuaded  him  to  write  it,  knowing  that  it  was  not  so.  In 
any  other  way  we  do  him  injustice  if  we  judge  him.  Is  it  of 
poetry?  His  words  are  so  many  symbols,  to  which  we  ourselves 
must  furnish  the  interpretation;  or  they  remain,  as  in  all 
prosaic  minds  the  words  of  poetry  ever  do,  a  dead  letter: 
indications  they  are,  barren  in  themselves,  but,  by  following 
which,  we  also  may  reach,  or  approach,  that  Hill  of  Vision 
where  the  poet  stood,  beholding  the  glorious  scene  which  it  is 
the  purport  of  his  poem  to  show  others.  * 

But  this  is  not  all;  there  is  still  another  fact  that  is 
more  important  for  the  teacher  to  see.  There  are 
three  phases  of  consciousness,  three  forms  of  mental 
activity:  knowing,  feeling,  and  willing.  While  these 
are  inseparably  bound  together,  they  are  not  all 
equally  prominent  in  any  state  of  consciousness.  On 

*  Critical  and  Miscellaneous  Essays.    "Goethe's  Helena. " 


132  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

the  other  hand,  any  one  of  the  three  may  be  so 
strongly  developed  that  we  give  its  name  to  the  whole 
state  of  the  mind,  as  knowledge,  feeling,  or  will. 
Still  further,  a  very  energetic  development  of  any  of 
them  renders  a  very  energetic  development  of  either 
of  the  others  impossible;  a  man  cannot  know  and  feel 
and  will  with  great  energy  all  at  the  same  time.  Now, 
gentle  and  pleasurable  extitement  of  the  feelings  con- 
duces to  intellectual  activity,  and  so  to  growth  in 
thought  and  knowledge;  while  violent  excitement,  or 
a  tone  of  feeling  that  runs  strongly  in  the  minor  key, 
is  a  hinderance.  As  we  all  know  by  experience,  cer- 
tain emotional  states  render  study  and  reflection  im- 
possible. Furthermore,  the  feelings  that  should  reign 
in  the  school-room  are  courage,  cheerfulness,  gratifi- 
cation; not  anger,  grief,  disappointment,  or  despair. 
Hence  the  regulation  of  the  feelings  of  the  pupil  and 
of  the  school — the  control  of  the  emotional  nature — 
is  one  of  the  delicate  duties  that  the  teacher  is  called 
upon  to  perform.  How  much  wisdom  there  is  in 
these  words  of  a  distinguished  writer  on  psychology: 

Those  '  'strong-minded' '  teachers  who  object  to  these  modes 
of  ' '  making  things  pleasant , ' '  as  an  unworthy  and  undesirable 
'  'weakness, ' '  are  ignorant  that  in  this  stage  of  the  child -mind, 
the  will — that  is,  the  power  of  self-control — is  weak;  and  that 
the  primary  object  of  education  is  to  encourage  and  strengthen , 
not  to  repress,  that  power.  Great  mistakes  are  often  made  by 
parents  and  teachers ,  who ,  being  ignorant  of  this  fundamental 
fact  of  child -nature,  treat  as  willfulness  what  is  in  reality  just 
the  contrary  of  will -fulness ;  being  the  direct  result  of  the  want 
of  volitional  control  over  the  automatic  activity  of  the  brain. 
To  punish  a  child  for  the  want  of  obedience  which  it  has  not  the 
power  to  render,  is  to  inflict  an  injury  which  may  almost  be 
said  to  be  irreparable.  For  nothing  tends  so  much  to  prevent 


HIS  USE  OF  ACCOMMODATION.  133 

the  healthful  development  of  the  moral  sense ,  as  the  infliction 
of  punishment  which  the  child  feels  to  be  unjust ;  and  nothing 
retards  the  acquirement  of  the  power  of  directing  the  intel- 
lectual processes  so  much  as  the  emotional  disturbance  which 
the  feeling  of  injustice  provokes.  Hence  the  determination 
often  expressed  to  "break  the  will"  of  an  obstinate  child  by 
punishment,  is  almost  certain  to  strengthen  these  reactionary 
influences.  Many  a  child  is  put  into  "durance  vile"  for  not 
learning  "the  little  busy  bee,"  who  simply  cannot  give  its 
small  mind  to  the  task  whilst  disturbed  by  stern  commands  and 
threats  of  yet  severer  punishment  fora  disobedience  it  cannot 
help ;  when  a  suggestion  kindly  and  skillfully  adapted  to  its 
automatic  nature,  by  directing  the  turbid  current  of  thought 
and  feeling  into  a  smoother  channel,  and  guiding  the  activity 
which  it  does  not  attempt  to  oppose,  shall  bring  about  the  de- 
sired result,  to  the  surprise  alike  of  the  baffled  teacher,  the  pas- 
sionate pupil,  and  the  perplexed  bystanders.  * 

The  objections  to  violent  disturbances  of  the  child's 
feelings  in  school  are  two  in  number:  First,  he  can- 
not learn  while  his  mind  is  full  of  turbulence  and 
excitement;  secondly,  such  stimulus  excites  his  moral 
nature  to  abnormal  activity  and  growth. 

How  beautiful  is  the  teaching  of  Jesus  when  meas- 
ured by  these  criteria!  How  gently  does  He  handle 
those  whom  He  hopes  to  win!  With  what  conde- 
scension and  tenderness  He  treats  the  ignorant  and 
those  who  have  gone  out  of  the  way!  With  what 
forbearance  and  sympathy  He  looks  upon  the  people ! 
When  He  sees  the  multitude  He  is  moved  with  com- 
passion on  them  because  they  faint,  and  are  scattered 
abroad  as  sheep  having  no  shepherd,  f  It  is  true  that 
He  sometimes  denounces  with  terrific  force;  but  His 
denunciations  are  heaped  upon  the  leaders  and  rulers 

*  Dr.  W.  B.  Carpenter's  Mental  Physiology,  pp.  134,  135. 
t  Matt.  ix.  36. 


134  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

of  the  people  whom  He  has  failed  to  awaken  from 
their  self-satisfaction  or  carnality,  and  whom  it  is 
necessary  to  expose,  in  order  to  destroy  their  influence. 
But  the  best  examples  of  His  spirit  of  accommo- 
dation are  found  in  the  history  of  His  relations  with 
His  disciples.  Their  slowness  to  learn  seems  incred- 
ible, until  we  remember  how  remote  His  teaching  is 
/  from  the  channels  of  the  common  Jewish  mind.  He 
is  compelled  to  repeat  His  lessons,  and  to  multiply 
illustrations.  They  have  their  Messianic  ideas  and 
hopes;  they  come  finally  to  accept  Him  as  the  Mes- 
siah; still  He  is  constantly  dashing  their  expectations 
and  frustrating  their  plans  by  pointing  out  to  them 
their  errors.  Yet  when  He  chides  them  He  does  so 
in  gentle  language.  "  Have  I  been  so  long  time  with 
you,  and  yet  hast  thou  not  known  me,  Philip?"*  His 
strongest  reproof  to  them  was  the  words  spoken  after 
His  resurrection:  **Oh  fools,  and  slow  of  heart  to 
believe  all  that  the  prophets  have  spoken. "  And 
then,  beginning  at  Moses  and  all  the  prophets,  He 
expounds  unto  them  once  more  in  all  the  Scriptures 
the  things  concerning  Himself,  t 

*  John  xiv.  9.  f  Luke  xxiv.  25-27. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

HIS     METHODS    OF    TEACHING.       I. 

EVERY  true  teacher  stands  between  men  and  truth 
in  a  mediatorial  capacity,  and  this  was  emphatically 
true  of  Jesus.  He  was  the  Truth,  as  well  as  the  way 
and  the  light.  In  Him  truth  itself  became  a  medi- 
ator. But  this  did  not  make  method  the  less  impor- 
tant, but  rather  the  more  important.  Method  now 
involved,  not  the  means  of  intercommunication  be- 
tween men  and  abstract  study  or  science,  but  between 
men  and  The  Truth.  In  this  case  method  may  be 
less  scholastic,  but  only  because  it  is  more  vital  and 
more  practical. 

The  wise  teacher  always  chooses  his  methods  with 
reference  to  the  ends  that  he  wishes  to  accomplish. 
His  ideas  control  his  procedure.  This  is  true  of 
Jesus.  His  teachings  look  to  a  practical  end;  they 
lead  to  growth  in  knowledge  and  in  grace.  The  con- 
ception of  a  completed  circle  of  ideas,  or  of  lessons 
that  may  be  mastered  by  repetition  and  be  conformed 
to  by  habit,  is  wholly  foreign  to  His  mind.  He 
expects  progress.  The  law  of  His  kingdom  is  the 
law  of  development.  "The  earth  bringeth  forth  fruit 
of  herself;  first  the  blade,  then  the  ear,  after  that  the 
full  corn  in  the  ear."  *  To  effect  His  object  He  seeks 

*  Mark  iv.  28. 
(135) 


136  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

to  arrest  the  attention  of  men,  to  set  them  to  think- 
ing, and  through  their  own  mental  activity  to  influ- 
ence their  characters  and  lives. 

Dr.  Neander  finds  in  the  words  of  Jesus,  "There- 
fore every  scribe,  which  is  instructed  unto  the  kingdom 
of  heaven,  is  like  unto  a  man  that  is  a  householder, 
which  bringeth  forth  out  of  his  treasure  things  new 
and  old"  (Matt.  xiii.  52),  an  intimation  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  His  mode  of  teaching  and  the  grounds  on 
which  He  adopted  it.  "As  a  householder  shows  his 
visitors  his  jewels;  exhibits,  in  pleasing  alternation, 
the  modern  and  the  antique,  and  leads  them  from  the 
common  to  the  rare,  so  must  the  teacher  of  Divine 
truth,  in  the  new  manifestation  of  the  kingdom  of 
God,  bring  out  of  his  treasures  of  knowledge  truths 
old  and  new,  and  gradually  lead  his  hearers  from  the 
old  and  usual  to  the  new  and  unaccustomed."  * 

"In  discharging  His  office  of  Teacher,"  says  Lange, 
"He  employs  various  forms  of  teaching  as  they  suited 
the  various  relations  in  which  He  stood  to  His  hearers, 
and  the  inner  constitution  of  these  hearers  them- 
selves, "t  In  general  the  stage  of  instruction  that  His 
hearers  had  reached,  and  their  mental  disposition 
toward  Him,  determined  the  method  of  discourse.  If 
the  men  whom  He  addressed  had  already  entered  the 
circle  of  intimate  discipleship,  that  was  one  thing; 
if  they  had  not  entered  that  circle,  but  were  willing 
and  eager  to  be  taught,  and  so  were  well  affected  in 
their  minds,  that  was  another  thing;  if  they  were  dis- 
putatious and  captious,  and  particularly  if  they  were 
hostile  in  spirit',  that  was  still  another  thing;  the  same 

*  Life  of  Jesus  Christ,  page  101.       t  Life  of  Christ,  Vol.  II.,  page  173. 


HIS  METHODS  OF  TEACHING.  137 

may  also  be  said  if  they  were  indifferent  and  spirit- 
ually dull. 

Whatever  the  moral  status  and  attitude  of  those 
whom  He  was  called  upon  to  address,  Jesus  found  all 
the  pedagogical  instruments  that  He  needed  already 
familiar  to  His  countrymen.  He  invented  nothing 
in  method,  but  used  old  methods  with  perfect  free- 
dom and  efficiency.  His  surprising  originality  appears 
in  His  mastery  of  these  methods,  in  the  spirit  in  which 
He  used  them,  and  in  His  subject  matter.  Perhaps 
nothing  more  completely  marks  His  identification 
with  the  Jewish  nation,  nay  more,  with  the  Oriental 
world,  than  His  adoption  and  exclusive  use  of  the 
modes  of  teaching  that  were  in  constant  employ  about 
Him.  What  these  methods  were  we  are  now  to 
inquire. 

1.  The  declaratory  didactic  discourse.  Dr.  Lange 
defines  this  as  "the  simple  declaration  or  preaching 
of  the  Gospel,  which  accompanied  the  facts  of  the 
Gospel — such  as  the  proclamation  of  the  kingdom  of 
God,  of  forgiveness  of  sins,  the  call  to  discipleship, 
the  bestowal  of  a  new  name,  or  of  power  and  author- 
ity, special  promises,  special  injunctions,"*  etc.  It  will 
be  seen  at  once  that  this  is  peculiarly  a  preaching 
method.  It  is  the  method  that  Jesus  commonly  used 
in  the  early  part  of  His  ministry,  particularly  in  deal- 
ing with  multitudes  or  large  congregations.  The  long 
unbroken  addresses  found  in  the  Gospels  are  examples. 
Particular  mention  may  be  made  of  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount,  which  is  the  greatest  and  best  known  of 
them  all. 

*  Commentary  on  Matthew,  chap,  xiii:    "The  Parables  of  Christ." 


138  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

When  we  take  up  one  of  these  sermons  for  exam- 
ination, we  soon  see  that  it  has  a  peculiar  structure 
and  texture.  It  is  wholly  unlike  what  now  passes  for 
a  sermon.  It  often  contains  quotations  from  the 
Hebrew  Scriptures,  or  allusions  to  them,  but  it  is  not 
our  familiar  expository  discourse.  It  is  not  an  argued 
or  reasoned  address.  It  does  not,  like  the  Greek  or 
Latin  orations,  conform  to  the  conventional  rules  for 
the  construction  of  public  addresses.  It  cannot  be 
-said  to  have  a  formal  unity,  and  is  scarcely  a  system- 
atic  treatment  of  a  distinct  subject.  Learned  com- 
mentators do  indeed  seek  to  discover  underlying  unity 
and  system  in  these  discourses:  but  their  efforts  are 
not  very  successful.  In  fact,  it  would  be  difficult  to 
find  any  body  of  teaching  or  doctrine  that  shows  less 
external  trace  of  the  system-maker  than  they  do. 
Furthermore,  this  was  due  in  great  part  to  the  internal 
structure  of  the  sermon  itself.  What  this  structure 
was,  we  shall  soon  make  the  subject  of  investigation. 

2.  The  didactic  dialogue.  Admirable  as  the  de- 
claratory discourse  is  when  a  speaker  addresses  a 
multitude,  it  is  too  formal  and  unwieldy  for  use  when 
he  deals  with  a  single  person  or  a  few  persons.  A 
more  familiar,  direct,  and  confidential  method  is  nec- 
essary. Under  such  circumstances,  Jesus  laid  the  ser- 
mon aside  and  took  up  the  didactic  dialogue.  There 
are  now  two  or  more  speakers,  questions  are  asked 
and  answered,  difficulties  are  propounded  and  efforts 
made  to  remove  them, — all  of  which  gives  to  the  teach- 
ing greater  variety  and  animation.  Reference  may  be 
made  to  the  conversations  with  Nicodemus,  Simon, 
and  the  woman  of  Samaria.  This  is  the  common 


HIS  METHODS  OF  TEACHING.  139 

form  of  instruction  when  Jesus  was  dealing  with  his 
disciples.  As  Dr.  Lange  says,  in  the  presence  of 
His  intimate  disciples  the  dialogue  "assumed  the  form 
of  the  most  direct  address,  at  once  instructing  the  . 
mind  and  moving  the  heart.  So  especially  in  the  part- 
ing discourses  of  the  Savior  as  recorded  by  St.  John." 
Some  of  the  most  characteristic  teaching — some  of 
the  most  interesting  and  beautiful — is  given  in  this 
form.  "Disciple"  is  a  word  that  covers  relations 
which  "hearer"  does  not  embrace.  Particularly  was 
this  the  case  with  Jesus.  Many  of  His  thoughts  were 
so  remote  from  the  common  mind,  His  lessons  had 
applications  so  many  and  so  various,  that  He  often 
found  it  necessary  to  preach  His  sermons  over  again 
to  His  disciples,  explaining  what  had  been  left  ob- 
scure. More  than  this,  He  was  fitting  the  Twelve  for 
their  ministry,  and  this  made  the  private  duty  all  the 
more  urgent.  He  foretold  His  own  death,  pointed 
out  what  they  would  be  called  upon  to  suffer,  and 
strengthened  them  with  special  promises.  When  we 
come  to  deal  with  the  parables,  we  shall  have  occasion 
to  consider  one  or  more  of  these  didactic  dialogues. 
Still,  the  dialogue  and  the  sermon  have  much  in 
common,  as  we  see  when  we  look  into  their  interior 
texture.  The  call  to  meet  difficulties  and  answer 
questions  in  the  dialogue  required  as  plentiful  a  use 
of  proverbs  as  the  sermon  itself.  Such  discussions 
often  followed  the  more  public  teaching,  and  especial- 
ly the  parables.  Remarking  that  the  attainment  of 
His  end  depended  upon  the  susceptibility  of  the 
hearers,  Dr.  Neander  observes: 


140  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

So  far  as  they  hungered  for  true  spiritual  food,  so  far  as  the 
parable  stimulated  them  to  deeper  thought,  and  so  far  only,  it 
revealed  new  riches.  Those  with  whom  this  was  really  the 
case  were  accustomed  to  wait  until  the  throng  had  left  their 
Master,  or,  gathering  round  Him  in  a  narrow  circle,  in  some 
retired  spot,  to  seek  clearer  light  on  points  which  the  parable 
had  left  obscure.  Tha  scene  described  in  Mark  iv.  10,  shows 
us  that  others  besides  the  twelve  Apostles  were  named  among 
those  who  remained  behind  to  ask  Him  questions  after  the  crowd 
had  dispersed.  Not  only  did  such  questions  afford  the  Savior 
an  opportunity  of  imparting  more  thorough  instruction,  but 
those  who  felt  constrained  to  offer  them  were  thereby  drawn 
into  closer  fellowship  with  Him.  He  became  better  acquainted 
with  the  souls  that  were  longing  for  salvation.* 

The  second  of  these  methods,  under  certain  circum- 
stances, passed  readily  into  the  third  one. 

3.  Questioning  or  disputation.  "  When  confronted  by 
enemies  and  accusers,"  says  Dr.  Lange,  "Christ  adopt- 
ed the  method  of  questioning  (disputation),  following 
it  up  by  a  warning,  or  by  what  would  serve  to  silence 
an  opponent — the  ultimate  mode  of  dealing  with  such 
persons  being  either  open  rebuke  or  else  solemn  testi- 
mony.'* These  disputations  were  controversial  in 
form,  and  many  of  them  were  very  searching  in  char- 
acter. Many  of  the  encounters  between  Him  and  the 
Pharisees  and  Sadducees  may  be  given  as  examples. 
If  one  were  looking  for  the  surest  evidence  of  Jesus's 
ability  to  hold  His  own  in  dealing  with  men,  to  over- 
whelm an  opponent,  to  put  to  silence  the  captious, 
and  to  expose  the  pretentious  and  the  arrogant, — he 
would  find  it  in  these  contests.  It  is  in  the  dialogues 
and  disputations  that  Jesus  approaches  nearest  to  the 
Greeks.  The  dialogue  with  friendly  auditors  may  be 

*  The  Life  of  Jesus  Christ,  p.  103. 


nJNi 

HIS  METHODS  OF  TEACHING.  141 


likened  to  the  Socratic  maieutics,  the  disputation  to 
the  Socratic  irony.  The  controversial  dialogue,  as 
well  as  the  didactic  dialogue,  had  certain  elements  in 
common  with  the  sermon  or  declaratory  discourse. 
It  was  a  foregone  conclusion  that  Jesus  and  the 
Jewish  teachers  and  rulers  could  not  get  on  together. 
It  is  true  that  at  first  He  did  not  denounce  them  pub- 
licly, or  at  all  events  that  His  most  powerful  denun- 
ciations belong  to  a  later  period.  On  their  part  they 
appear  to  have  listened  to  Him,  or  to  reports  of  Him, 
with  wondering  curiosity.  Like  the  High  Priest,  the 
captain  of  the  Temple,  and  the  chief  priests  at  a  later 
day,  they  doubted  whereunto  this  thing  would  grow. 
Some  of  them  looked  upon  Him  with  no  little  favor. 
But  the  majority  soon  discovered  that  His  teaching 
involved  a  subversion  of  the  existing  religious  order; 
they  were  at  first  awakened  and  then  alarmed,  and 
they  saw  that  something  must  be  done  to  counteract 
His  influence.  One  of  the  methods  that  they  adopted 
was  to  ask  Him  "  hard  questions,"  to  suggest  difficul- 
ties, to  file  objections.  Sometimes  these  grew  imme- 
diately out  of  His  teaching;  sometimes  they  were 
made  up  with  consummate  art,  care  being  taken  to 
arrange  the  whole  scheme  beforehand.  Never  does 
He  lose  self-command,  never  is  He  taken  unawares, 
never  does  He  appear  at  a  disadvantage.  In  every 
instance,  He  remains  master  of  the  field.  Nor  can  it 
be  said  that  the  reports  have  been  tampered  with,  for 
their  verisimilitude  attests  their  genuineness.  A  sin- 
gle example  will  suffice. 

Then  went  the  Pharisees,  and  took  connsel  how  they  might 
entangle  Him  in  His  talk.    And  they  sent  out  unto  Him  their  dis- 


142  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

ciples  with  the  Herodians,  saying,  Master,  we  know  that  thon 
art  true,  and  teachest  the  way  of  God  in  truth,  neither  carest 
thou  for  any  man:  for  thou  regardest  not  the  person  of  men. 
Tell  us,  therefore,  What  thinkest  thou?  Is  it  lawful  to  give 
tribute  unto  Caesar  or  not?* 

Observe  the  art  with  which  the  plot  is  laid  and  the 
characters  are  cast.  The  purpose  of  the  Pharisees  is 
to  entangle  Him  in  His  talk,  or,  more  definitely,  to 
extort  from  Him  an  answer  that  will  bring  upon  Him 
the  enmity  either  of  the  nation  or  of  the  public  au- 
thorities. They  do  not  appear  themselves,  but  send 
their  disciples,  in  order  not  to  arouse  suspicion.  Still 
further  to  veil  their  purpose,  the  actors  address  Him 
in  flattering  words ;  they  call  Him  by  the  honorable 
title  of  Master;  they  tell  Him  that  He  teaches  the 
way  of  God  in  truth,  and  that  He  does  not  regard  the 
person  of  men.  Will  He  therefore  settle  the  vexed 
question  of  paying  tribute?  It  must  be  remembered 
that  the  Jews  were  intense  patriots,  and  were  then 
chafing  under  the  Roman  domination;  also  that  the 
Pharisees  were  national  in  feeling,  as  hostile  as  they 
dared  to  be  to  Rome  and  to  everything  Roman.  The 
Herodians  were  not  a  religious  sect,  but  a  political 
party  that  took  its  name  from  the  house  of  Herod. 
They  were  devoted  to  the  family  that  was  then  reign- 
ing in  parts  of  Palestine,  and  so  to  the  Roman  dom- 
ination, upon  which  the  fortunes  of  the  Herods  de- 
pended. The  combination  has  been  called  one  of 
priests  and  politicians,  and  it  would  be  hard  to  say 
which  party  to  it  was  the  more  unscrupulous  and  dan- 
gerous. The  question  of  tribute  was  practically  tho 

*  Matt.  xxii.  15-22. 


HIS  METHODS  OF  TEACHING.  143 

test  of  a  man's  relation  to  the  existing  order  of 
things,  the  lawfulness  of  paying  tribute,  from  a  Jew- 
ish point  of  view,  being  not  a  little  discussed.  Now,  if 
Jesus  should  answer  the  skillfully  framed  question  in 
the  affirmative,  the  Pharisees  would  certainly  report 
among  the  people  that  He  had  ranged  Himself  on  the 
side  of  the  Romans;  but  if  He  should  answer  in  the 
negative,  the  Herodians  would  denounce  Him  to  the 
authorities  as  a  political  agitator  and  a  dangerous 
man.  Such  were  the  millstones  between  which 
they  hoped  to  see  Him  ground  to  powder.  But,  with 
His  ready  intuition,  He  perceived  their  wickedness, 
denounced  them  as  hypocrites,  and  demanded  to 
know  why  they  should  tempt  or  try  Him.  He  asked 
to  be  shown  the  tribute  money;  and  when  they 
handed  Him  a  denarius,  He  asked  whose  was  the 
image  and  superscription  stamped  on  the  coin.  They 
replied  that  it  was  Caesar,  the  Emperor's.  Seeing  is 
believing;  here  was  an  object  lesson  teaching  them 
what  was,  or  whose  was,  the  established  political  au- 
thority. The  circulation  of  the  denarius  proclaimed 
the  Roman  supremacy  as  plainly  as  the  eagles  on 
the  walls  of  Jerusalem  could  do.  So  when  they  had  in 
effect  answered  their  own  question,  He  said:  "Ren- 
der therefore  unto  Caesar  the  things  which  are 
Caesar's,  and  unto  Grod  the  things  that  are  Grod's." 
The  scene  was  over.  He  had  taught  them  three  les- 
sons: that  the  constituted  authority  was  to  be  re- 
spected; that  He  was  not  an  agitator  dealing  with 
political  questions;  and  that  men  owe  service  and 
duty  to  God  as  well  as  to  the  State.  He  had  so  han- 
dled the  case  as  to  make  it  teach  a  great  spiritual 


144  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

truth.  No  wonder  that  the  discomfited  Pharisees  and 
Herodians,  when  they  heard  these  words,  marveled 
and  left  Him  and  went  their  way.  No  wonder  that 
we  read  at  the  close  of  a  similar  unsuccessful  effort 
to  entrap  Him:  "And  no  man  was  able  to  answer 
Him  a  word,  neither  durst  any  man  from  that  day 
forth  ask  Him  any  more  questions."  *  This  topic 
may  be  dismissed  with  the  remark  that  never  was  the 
superiority  of  genuineness,  simplicity,  and  truth  over 
craft,  artifice,  and  hypocrisy  more  clearly  evinced 
than  in  the  controversies  and  disputations  of  the 
Gospels. 

Thus  far  we  have  been  dealing  with  the  methods  of 
Jesus  under  an  external  or  formal  aspect.  It  will  now 
become  our  duty  to  look  into  their  interior  structure. 
Dr.  Lange  says,  however,  that  the  silence  of  Jesus 
also  "should  be  ranked  among  the  forms  of  His 
teaching — viewing,  as  we  do,  each  of  them  not  merely 
as  a  speech,  but  as  a  fact." 

*  Matt.  xxii.  46.. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

.     .HIS   METHODS   OF    TEACHING.      II,   .  ... 

THE  last  chapter  dealt  with  the  forms  or  modes  of 
teaching  that  Jesus  employed,  viewed  under  an  exter- 
nal aspect, — the  formal  didactic  discourse,  the  didactic 
dialogue,  and  the  disputation.  We  are  now  to  take  a 
deeper  look  into  the  subject. 

Speaking  of  the  first  of  these  modes  of  teaching; 
Dr.  Lange  has  said:  "When  addressed  to  a  sympa- 
thetic audience,  this  declaration  of  the  Gospel  was  de- 
livered in  a  regular  didactic  manner  in  the  form  of 
maxims,  or  gnomes,  as,  for  example,  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount.  The  use  of  proverbs,  gnomes,  or  senten- 
tious maxims,  .  .  .  was  a  favorite  mode  of 
teaching  among  the  Jews,  after  the  example  of  Sol- 
omon in  the  Book  of  Proverbs."  "The  proverb,';' 
he  continues,  "is  a  short,  epigrammatic,  pointed  sen- 
tence, frequently  figurative  and  concrete,  occasion- 
ally paradoxical  and  hyperbolical,  at  other  times 
poetical,  but  always  vivid,  and  sharply  outlined, 
so  as  to  present  in  a  transparent  and  significant 
form  a  deep,  rich,  and  pregnant  idea,  which  shines 
in  the  light  of  truth,  and  burns  in  the  fire  of  per- 
sonal application — bright  and  brilliant  like  a  true 
gem."  A  glance  beneath  the  surface  of  the  Sermon 

on  the  Mount,  or  of  any  similar  discourse,  suffices  to 
10  (145) 


146  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

show  that  it  consists,  not  of  connected  reasonings  or 
of  sustained  argumentation,  but  largely  of  these 
expressive  sayings,  sometimes  units  separate  and  dis- 
tinct in  themselves,  sometimes  more  or  less  connected, 
but  all  tending  to  awaken,  to  inspire,  and  to  guide  the 
hearer.  Hence  one  of  these  discourses  has  a  some- 
what oracular  appearance  and  effect.  A  glance,  too, 
will  show  that  such  a  mode  of  teaching  would  be 
wholly  unsuited  to  any  subject  that  demands  scientific 
treatment.  The  facts  and  principles  of  science,  his- 
tory, mathematics,  and  philosophy  cannot  be  com- 
pressed into  maxims.  At  the  same  time  it  is  a  mode 
of  teaching  admirably  adapted  to  the  ends  of  practical 
ethics  and  of  religious  conduct. 

Dr.  Lange  speaks  of  the  currency  of  this  mode  of 
teaching  among  the  Jews,  and  mentions  Solomon. 
He  might  have  given  a  far  wider  horizon  to  his 
remark.  From  a  very  early  time,  if  not  indeed  from 
the  earliest  of  which  we  have  any  record,  the  East  has 
exhibited  traits  of  mental  character  and  modes  of 
thought  and  expression  that  are  not  properly  native 
to  the  West.  Not  merely  the  Jews,  but  the  Arabs, 
the  Persians,  the  Indians,  and  the  Chinese  have 
showed  a  decided  propension  to  moral  reflection,  to 
prudential  wisdom,  and  to  gnomic  or  aphoristic  utter- 
ance. What  the  ultimate  sources  or  causes  of  these 
tendencies  may  be,  I  have  not  seen  explained;  for 
myself,  I  associate  them  with  that  air  of  repose  and 
spirit  of  meditation  which  so  strongly  characterize 
Eastern  life.  They  are  tendencies  quite  inconsistent, 
for  the  most  part,  with  the  ceaseless  energy  and  prac- 


HIS  METHODS  OF  TEACHING.  147 

tical  spirit  of  the  West.*  Whatever  the  explanation 
may  be,  they  are  characteristic  features  of  all  the 
Oriental  literatures.  In  Eastern  books  it  is  com- 
mon to  find  the  loftiest  maxims  and  moral  reflections 
in  the  mouths,  not  merely  of  sages  and  poets,  but 
of  tyrants,  conquerors,  and  voluptuaries.  As  Alp 
Arslan,  the  Seljook  Sultan,  fell  at  the  foot  of  his 
throne  from  the  dagger  of  an  assassin,  he  explained 
before  he  breathed  his  last:  "In  my  youth  I  was  ad- 
vised by  a  sage,  to  humble  myself  before  Grod;  to  dis- 
trust my  own  strength;  and  never  to  despise  the  most 
contemptible  foe.  I  have  neglected  these  lessons; 
and  my  neglect  has  been  deservedly  punished.  Yes- 
terday, as  from  an  eminence  I  beheld  the  numbers, 
the  discipline,  and  the  spirit  of  my  armies,  the  earth 
seemed  to  tremble  under  my  feet;  and  I  said  in  my 
heart,  '  Surely  thou  art  the  king  of  the  world,  the 
greatest  and  most  invincible  of  warriors.'  These 
armies  are  no  longer  mine;  and  in  the  confidence  of 
my  personal  strength,  I  now  fall  by  the  hand  of  an 
assassin."!  It  matters  not  whether  the  words  are  gen- 
uine or  not,  they  are  in  perfect  character.  But  we 

*  This  is  Aristotle's  famous  characterization  of  the  East  and  the  West: 
"Those  who  live  in  a  cold  climate  and  in  [Northern]  Europe  are  full  of  spirit, 
but  wanting  in  intelligence  and  skill;  and  therefore  they  keap  their  freedom, 
but  have  no  political  organization,  and  are  incapable  of  ruling  over  others. 
Whereas  the  natives  of  Asia  are  intelligent  and  inventive,  but  they  are  want- 
ing in  spirit,  and  therefore  they  are  always  in  a  state  of  subjection  and  slav- 
ery. But  the  Hellenic  race,  which  is  situated  between  them,  is  likewise 
intermediate  in  character,  being  high-spirited  and  also  intelligent.  Hence  it 
continues  free,  and  is  the  best  governed  of  any  nation,  and,  if  it  could  be 
formed  into  one  State,  would  be  able  to  rule  the  world.  There  are  also  simi- 
lar differences  in  the  different  tribes  of  Hellas,  for  some  of  them  are  of  a 
one-sided  nature,  and  are  intelligent  or  courageous  only,  while  in  others 
there  is  a  happy  combination  of  both  qualities..'.'— Poetics,  VII. ,  7. 

t  Gibbon,  Chapter  LVII. 


148  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

cannot  conceive  of  Caesar's  dying  with  a  similar  hom- 
ily in  his  mouth.  The  combination  of  wisdom  and 
profligacy  found  in  Solomon  is  by  no  means  an  uncom- 
mon one  in  the  East;  and  were  we  always  to  remem- 
ber the  peculiar  moral  genius  of  the  Orient,  the 
marked  contradiction  seen  in  the  character  of  the 
Wise  King  would  appear  to  us  less  extraordinary.  It 
is  no  accident  that  from  early  times  men  have  looked 
to  the  East  for  wisdom. 

It  is  certain  that  wisdom  and  gnomic  teaching  did 
not  originate  with  the  Jews.  Nor  do  they  appear  to 
have  been  prominent  in  the  early  history  of  the  Chosen 
People.  While  anticipations  are  met  with  at  an  ear- 
lier date,  the  splendid  outburst  of  Wisdom  that  shines 
so  conspicuously  in  certain  books  of  The  Old  Testa- 
ment did  not  come  until  the  age  of  Solomon.  Such 
writers  as  Ewald  and  Dean  Stanley  connect  this  out- 
burst with  the  great  enlargement  of  the  Jewish  horizon 
and  the  general  reign  of  peace  that  coincided  with  the 
reign  of  the  Wise  King.  A  new  world  of  thought 
had  been  opened  to  the  Israelites.  The  curtain  which 
divided  them  from  the  surrounding  nations  was  sud- 
denly rent  asunder.  The  wonders  of  Egypt,  the  com- 
merce of  Tyre,  the  romance  of  Arabia  became  visible. 
Prophets  and  psalmists  now  retire  into  the  background, 
and  their  places  are  occupied  by  what  is  henceforth 
called  "  Wisdom,'*  a  word  that  must  be  taken,  if  we 
would  understand  its  force,  in  a  somewhat  technical 
sense.  We  read  of  the  "Wisdom  of  Egypt"  and 
of  the  "  Wisdom  of  the  children  of  the  East."  Four 
renowned  sages  appear  as  its  exponents.  We  read  in 


HIS  METHODS  OF  TEACHING.  149 

the  First  Book  of  Kings*  of  Ethan  the  Ezrahite,  and 
Heman,  and  Chalcol,  and  Darda,  the  sons  of  Mahol. 
We  read  in  Proverbs  of  a  House  of  Wisdom  on  seven 
pillars,  t  A  class  of  men  sprang  up  distinct  from  both 
priest  and  prophet  bearing  the  name  of  "The  Wise," 
whose  teaching  and  manner  of  life  were  unlike  that  of 
either  of  those  two  orders.  The  thing  and  the  name 
had  been  almost  unknown  before ;  but  from  this  time 
forward  the  word  occurs  in  the  Sacred  Writings  at 
least  three  hundred  times,  t 

We  cannot  follow  the  Dean  in  his  admirable  analy- 
sis of  Solomon's  wisdom,  except  to  say  that  he  finds 
it  to  comprise  discernment  of  justice  and  largeness  of 
heart.  But  we  are  not  to  think  of  wisdom  as 
peculiar  to  Solomon.  While  he  exemplified  it  in  its 
highest  form,  he  nevertheless  shared  it  with  many  of 
his  contemporaries.  It  is  in  fact  a  kind  of  teaching 
in  which  the  Eastern  mind  has  always  been  fond  of 
expressing  itself.  The  Queen  of  Sheba  did  not  come 
to  Jerusalem  from  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  to 
hear  wisdom,  but  the  wisdom  of  Solomon. 

Again,  as  marking  these  large  and  interesting  rela- 
tions, Solomon  expressed  himself  in  common  Oriental 
forms  of  speech.  "  The  chief  manifestation  in  writ- 
ing of  Solomon's  wisdom,"  says  Stanley,  "was  that 
of  proverbs,  parables,  or  by  whatever  other  name  we 
translate  the  Hebrew  word  mashal.  The  inward 
spirit  of  his  philosophy  (for  such  it  might  be  called, 
and  was  the  nearest  approach  to  the  Western  idea 
which  the  Hebrew  mind  ever  attained,)  consisted  in 

*  Chap.  iv.  30.  f  Chap.  ix.  1. 

I  See  Stanley:    History  of  the  Jewish  Church,  Lect.  XXVIII. 


150  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

questionings  about  the  ends  of  life,  propounding  and 
answering  the  difficulties  suggested  by  human  experi- 
'ences.  Its  form  was  either  that  of  similitudes  or 
short  homely  maxims." 

Solomon  cultivated  science  as  well  as  wisdom.  He 
spake  of  trees,  from  the  cedar  tree  that  is  in  Leba- 
non even  into  the  hyssop  that  springeth  out  of  the 
wall:  he  spake  also  of  beasts,  and  of  fowl,  and  of 
creeping  things,  and  of  fishes.*  These  studies  the 
more  fully  qualified  him  for  parabolic  and  gnomic  ex- 
pression. The  East  is  the  land  of  apologues,  alle- 
gories, and  fables.  To  use  the  whole  round  of  nat- 
ural objects  as  symbols  of  thought,  and  particularly 
trees  and  animals,  is  a  habit  dating  from  high  antiq- 
uity. In  the  Orient,  man  seems  to  come  into  a  close 
poetic  sympathy  with  Nature,  with  the  result  that  the 
natural  symbols  of  ethical  thought  are  here  often  used 
with  admirable  effect  and  grace. 

I  have  said  that  gnomic  thought  and  utterance  were 
current  in  the  East  in  Solomon's  day.  Stanley  tells 
us  that,  "The  climax  of  the  definition  of  wisdom  is 
'the  understanding  of  a  proverb,  and  the  interpreta- 
tion; the  words  of  the  wise,  and  their  dark  sayings.'  ! 
The  kings  and  chiefs  around  seem  to  have  been  stim- 
ulated by  his  example,  or  by  their  example  to  have 
stimulated  him,  to  carry  on  this  kind  of  Socratic  dia- 
logue with  each  other.  The  Dean  refers  especially  to 
the  Wise  King's  contests  in  riddles  with  Hiram  of 
Tyre.  These  are  some  of  the  riddles  that  were  hurled 
back  and  forth  in  this  game  of  royal  wits:  "  What 
are  the  six  things  that  the  Lord  hated?"  "  What  are 

*  1  Kings  iv.  33. 


HIS  METHODS  OF  TEACHING.  151 

the  two  daughters  of  the  horse-leach?"  "  What  are 
the  three  things  that  are  never  satisfied?"  "  The 
three  things  that  are  too  wonderful?"  "The  three 
things  that  disquiet  the  earth?"  "The  four  things 
that  are  little  and  wise?"  "The  four  things  that  are 
comely  in  going?"  Not  alone  in  The  Old  Testament, 
but  also  in  other  Oriental  books,  are  riddles  like  these 
to  be  found.  Solomon  was  not  alone;  it  was  his  pre- 
eminence merely  that  led  the  Queen  of  Sheba  to  say: 
"Happy  are  thy  wives,  happy  are  these  thy  servants, 
who  stand  continually  before  thee  and  hear  thy  wis- 
dom." Like  so  many  others  of  the  Oriental  teachers, 
Solomon  was  also  a  poet.  His  songs  were  a  thousand 
and  five.  He  spoke  three  thousand  proverbs.  *  His 
pedagogical  maxims  circulate  wherever  his  name  is 
known.  From  this  time  'on  there  was  among  the 
Jews  a  flowing  stream  of  proverbial  teaching,  down  to 
the  time  of  Jesus.  Some  of  this  is  preserved  in  The 
Old  Testament,  some  in  the  Apocrypha,  and  some  in 
the  Talmud.  Much  of  it  is  seen  in  books  not  out- 
wardly proverbial,  as  in  Job,  the  Song  of  Solomon, 
and  in  some  of  the  Psalms,  as  well  as  in  Proverbs  and 
Ecclesiastes.  The  Apocryphal  books  called  Wisdom 
and  Ecclesiasticus  are  also  books  of  proverbs.  For 
the  purposes  of  prudential  conduct,  it  was  a  most 
effective  form  of  teaching.  "The  words  of  the  wise 
are  as  goads,  and  as  nails  fastened  by  the  masters  of 
assemblies."  Here  the  reference  is  to  the  proverbial 
wisdom;  and  when  we  consider  how  well  adapted  this 
teaching  was  to  impress  the  mind  and  to  remain  in 
the  memory,  we  shall  understand  the  figures. 

*  1  Kings  iv.  32. 


152  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

In  making  the  large  use  that  He  did  of  the  maxim 
or  the  gnome,  Jesus  was  merely  conforming  to  the 
habit  of  his  country  and  age.  As  Renan  puts  the 
case:  "  Like  all  the  Rabbis  of  the  time,  Jesus,  little 
given  to  consecutive  reasoning,  compressed  His  doc- 
trine into  aphorisms  concise  and  of  an  expressive 
form,  sometimes  strange  and  enigmatical.  .  .  .  The 
synagogues  are  rich  in  maxims  very  happily  expressed, 
which  formed  a  sort  of  current  proverb  literature. 
Jesus  adopted  nearly  all  this  oral  instruction,  infusing 
into  it  a  loftier  meaning."  *  We  may  therefore  view 
Jesus  under  the  aspect  of  one  of  The  Wise.  In  fact 
the  word  personified  is  twice  applied  to  Him  in  The 
New  Testament,  t  To  quote  the  Dean  of  Westmin- 
ster again: 

Not  only  was  Christ  the  subject  in  which  the  name  of  The 
Wisdom  of  Solomon  found  its  last  and  highest  application,  but 
His  teaching  was  the  last  and  highest  example  of  the  thing  it- 
self. If  we  look  back  to  the  older  Scriptures  for  the  models  on 
which,  in  form  at  least,  our  Lord's  discourses  are  framed,  it  is, 
for  the  most  part,  not  the  Psalms,  nor  the  Prophecies,  nor  the 
Histories,  but  the  works  of  Solomon.  Not  only  do  the  short, 
moral  and  religious  aphorisms  resemble  in  general  form  the 
precepts  of  the  Proverbs  and  of  Ecclesiasticus,  but  the  very 
name  by  which  the  greater  part  of  His  teaching  is  called  is  the 
same  as  that  of  the  teaching  of  Solomon.  He  spoke  in  '  'para 
bles' '  or  '  'proverbs. ' '  The  two  Greek  words  are  used  promis- 
cuously in  the  Evangelical  narratives,  and  are  in  fact  represent- 
atives of  one  and  the  same  Hebrew  word.  It  is,  we  might  say, 
an  accident,  that  the  Proverbs  of  Solomon  are  not  called  the 
'  'Parables,''  and  that  the  teachings  of  The  New  Testament  are 
called  the  '  'Parables, ' '  and  not  the  '  'Proverbs, ' '  of  the  Gos- 
pels. The  illustrations  from  natural  objects,  the  selection  of 
the  homelier  instead  of  the  grander  of  these,  are  not  derived 

*  Life  of  Jesus,  Chap.  v.  T  Lukevii.35;  xi.  49. 


HIS  METHODS  OF  TEACHING.  153 

from  the  Prophets,  or  from  the  Psalmists,  but  from  the  wise 
Naturalist,  "who  spake  of  trees,  and  beasts,  and  fowls,  and 
creeping  things,  and  fishes;"  "of  the  singing -birds,  of  the 
budding  fig-tree,  of  the  fragrant  vine. ' '  The  teaching  of  Solo- 
mon is  the  sanctification  of  common  sense  in  The  Old  Testament , 
and  to  that  sanctification  the  final  seal  is  set  by  the  adoption  of 
the  same  style  and  thought  in  The  New  Testament  by  Him  who , 
with  His  Apostles,  taught  in  "Solomon's  porch,'1  and  expressly 
compared  His  wisdom  to  the  wisdom  which  gathered  the 
nations  round  Solomon  of  old.  * 

These  facts  add  interest  to  Jesus's  own  words:  "The 
queen  of  the  South  shall  rise  up  in  .the  judgment  with 
this  generation,  and  shall  condemn  it:  for  she  came 
from  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  to  hear  the  wis- 
dom of  Solomon;  and  behold  a  greater  than  Solomon 
is  here."t 

Jesus  grew  up  in  an  atmosphere  charged  with  the 
gnomic  wisdom.  It  was  no  doubt  that  form  of  teach- 
ing with  which  he  was  best  acquainted.  Dr.  Geikie, 
in  a  pleasing  but  imaginary  sketch  of  His  youthful 
life  at  Nazareth,  suggests  that  Joseph,  like  all  Orient- 
als, was  given  to  speaking  in  proverbs  and  parables. 
"One  sheep  follows  another,"  he  might  have  said. 
"As  is  the  mother,  so  is  the  daughter."  "A  man 
without  friends  is  like  the  left  hand  without  the 
right."  "The  road  has  ears,  and  so  has  the  wall." 
"It  is  no  matter  whether  a  man  have  much  or  little, 
if  his  heart  be  set  on  heaven."  "A  good  life  is*better 
than  high  birth."  "The  bread  and  the  rod  came  from 
heaven  together."  "Seeking  wisdom  when  you  are 
old,  is  like  writing  on  water;  seeking  it  when  you  are 
young,  is  like  graving  on  stone."  "Every  word  you 

*  Lect.  XXXVII.  t  Matt.  xii.  42. 


154  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER 

speak,  good  or  bad,  light  or  serious,  is  written  in  a 
book.'*  "Fire  cannot  keep  company  with  flax  with- 
out kindling  it."  "In  this  world  a  man  follows  his 
own  will;  in  the  next  comes  the  judgment."  "With 
the  same  measure  with  which  a  man  measures  to 
others,  it  will  be  measured  to  him  again."  "Patience, 
and  silence  in  strife,  are  the  sign  of  a  noble  mind." 
"He  who  makes  the  pleasures  of  this  world  his  por- 
tion, loses  those  of  the  world  to  come;  but  he  who 
seeks  those  of  heaven,  receives  also  those  of  earth." 
"He  who  humbles  himself  will  be  exalted  by  God; 
but  he  who  exalts  himself,  him  will  God  humble." 
"Whatever  God  does  is  right."  "Speech  is  silver; 
silence  is  worth  twice  as  much."  "Sin  hardens  the 
heart  of  man."  "It  is  a  shame  for  a  plant  to  speak 
ill  of  him  who  planted  it."  "Two  bits  of  dry  wood 
set  a  moist  one  on  fire."  All  these  are  Jewish  sayings, 
which  Jesus  may  well  have  heard  in  his  childhood.  * 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  foregoing  examples  that,  in 
the  hands  of  the  Rabbis,  the  proverb  took  on  a  hard- 
er and  dryer  form  than  in  the  hands  of  Solomon. 
Still  fuller  illustrations  of  the  same  fact  may  be 
found  in  the  Book  of  Ecclesiasticus,  as  in  chapter 
xxxviii. 

Jesus  did  not  adopt  the  gnomic  form  of  teaching 
solely  because  it  was  so  popular.  Its  adaptation  to 
ethical  teaching,  as  well  as  its  non-adaptation  to  scien- 
tific teaching,  have  already  been  remarked  upon.  The 
proverb  is  by  no  means  an  exclusive  possesssion  of  the 
Orient;  but,  wherever  found,  seizing,  as  it  does,  some 
sharp  angle  of  truth,  and  expressing  it  in  a  terse  and 

*  Life  and  Words  of  Christ,  Vol.  I. ,  pp.  182,  183. 


HIS  METHODS  OF  TEACHING.  155 

pointed  form,  sometimes  with  paradox  or  exaggera- 
tion, it  is  a  very  effective  form  of  didactic  discourse. 
It  holds  the  attention,  it  sticks  in  the  memory.  It 
was  with  reason  that  the  greatest  of  all  the  teachers 
who  used  it,  save  alone  Jesus  Himself,  compared  it 
to  the  goad  with  which  oxen  are  urged  forward,  and 
to  the  nail  or  spike  driven  by  the  builder  of  a  house. 
We  cannot  fail  to  see  the  great  superiority  of  the 
gnomic  teaching  of  Jesus  to  the  similar  teaching  of 
those  who  went  before  Him.  The  wisdom  of  Solo- 
mon even  was  of  a  worldly,  prudential  nature,  evinc- 
ing discernment  of  judgment  and  largeness  of  heart 
in  respect  to  man's  worldly  estate,  but  not  rich  in 
spiritual  content  or  sounding  the  depths  of  the  soul. 
Stanley  calls  it  the  philosophy  of  practical  life.  It  is 
a  sign,  he  says,  "that  The  Bible  does  not  despise  com- 
mon sense  and  discretion.  It  impresses  upon  us  in 
the  most  forcible  manner  the  value  of  intelligence 
and  prudence  and  of  a  good  education."  It  is  this 
prudential  quality  that  commends  the  Book  of  Prov- 
erbs so  strongly  to  the  practical  man.  The  proverbial 
literature  of  the  Jews  was  the  only  philosophy  that 
the  nation  developed  in  ancient  times.  In  the  words  of 
Schiirer:  "There  is  nothing  that  shows  so  clearly  the 
practical  character  of  the  Palestinian  Jewish  literature 
of  our  period,  as  the  fact  that  even  in  the  merely  theo- 
retical speculations  of  the  time  there  was  always  an 
eye  to  the  practical  aims  and  tasks  of  life.  A  theo- 
retical philosophy,  strictly  so  called,  was  a  thing  en- 
tirely foreign  to  genuine  Judaism.  Whatever  it  did 
happen  to  produce  in  the  way  of  philosophy  (wis- 
dom) either  had  practical  religious  problems  as  its 


156  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

theme  (Job,  Ecclesiastes),  or  was  of  a  directly  prac- 
tical nature,  being  directions  based  upon  a  thoughtful 
study  of  human  things  for  so  regulating  our  life  as  to 
insure  our  being  truly  happy."*  Some  of  the 
Oriental  nations  have  produced  philosophers,  but  they 
commonly  have  this  practical,  prudential  character. 
The  wisdom  of  Jesus  is  of  a  far  higher  order.  He 
touches  heights  and  sounds  depths  that  the  Wise  King 
never  reaches;  and  this  because  He  deals  with  the 
spiritual,  and  not  with  the  merely  prudential  elements 
of  life.  Even  Renan,  who  claims  that  Jesus  appro- 
priated the  maxims  current  in  the  synagogues  in  His 
time,  expressly  declares  that  He  infused  into  them  a 
higher  meaning.  Nowhere  in  the  Proverbs  or  Ec- 
clesiastes, not  to  speak  of  other  wisdom  literature, 
will  you  find  maxims  to  compare  with  the  Beatitudes 
of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  How  hard  and  dry  the 
maxims  of  even  Solomon  seem  when  brought  into  re- 
lation with  these:  "Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit," 
"Blessed  are  they  that  mourn,"  "Blessed  are  the 
meek,"  "Blessed  are  they  that  hunger  and  thirst  after 
righteousness,"  "Blessed  are  the  merciful,"  "Blessed 
are  the  pure  in  heart,"  "Blessed  are  the  peacemak- 
ers," "Blessed  are  they  that  are  persecuted  for  right- 
eousness' sake,"  "Blessed  are  ye  when  men  shall  re- 
vile you  and  persecute  you,  and  shall  say  all  manner 
of  evil  against  you  falsely  for  my  sake!" 

No  great  discernment  is  needed  to  see  that  the 
gnomic  sermons  reported  in  the  different  Gospels  dif- 
fer somewhat  among  themselves.  Those  found  in 
Matthew,  Mark,  and  Luke  are  more  practical,  objec- 

*  The  Jewish  People  in  the  Time  of  Christ:  Division  II.,  Vol.  III. ,  pp.  23,  24. 


HIS  METHODS  OF  TEACHING.  157 

live,  and  matter-of-fact;  those  found  in  John,  more 
subjective,  more  ideal.  The  explanation  is  the  well 
known  fact  that  the  Evangelists  differed  in  capacity 
to  receive  and  report  their  Master's  teachings. 


CHAPTEE  XIII. 

HIS    METHODS    OF    TEACHING.      III. 

JESUS  impressed  His  personality  on  every  form  and 
mode  of  teaching  that  He  used.  It  is  impossible  to 
mistake  His  touch.  However,  He  is  most  widely 
known  by  His  parables.  These  are  even  more  char- 
acteristic than  the  gnomic  sermons.  We  shall  in- 
quire, first,  what  the  parable  is;  second,  how  it 
originated;  and  third,  why  Jesus  used  it. 

While  the  numerous  definitions  of  the  parable  vary 
in  minute  points,  they  are  about  the  same  in  sub- 
stance. Dr.  Lange  is  content  to  call  it  a  similitude, 
adding  that  under  special  circumstances  Jesus  ex- 
tended the  parable  into  the  parabolic  discourse,  i.  e.9 
a  discourse  which  assumed  the  form  of  a  parable  or 
parables  to  which  the  interpretation  was  added.  Dr. 
Neander  says  the  parables  are  representations 
through  which  the  truths  pertaining  to  the  kingdom 
of  God  are  vividly  exhibited  by  means  of  special  rela- 
tions of  common  life,  taken  either  from  nature  or  the 
world  of  mankind.  Those  parables  which  are  derived 
entirely  from  the  sphere  of  nature  are  grounded  on 
the  typical  relations  that  exist  between  nature  and 
spirit.  Dean  Alford  says  a  parable  is  a  serious  nar- 
ration within  the  limits  of  probability  of  a  course  of 

(158) 


HIS  METHODS  OF  TEACHING.  159 

action  pointing  to  some  moral  or  spiritual  truth;  and 
derives  its  force  from  real  analogies  impressed  by  the 
Creator  of  all  things  on  His  creation.  The  Dean 
quotes  another  writer  who  says  a  parable  is  a  story  of 
that  which  purports  to  have  happened,— has  not  act- 
ually happened,  but  might  have  happened.  Arch- 
bishop Trench  does  not  give  a  definition,  but  distin- 
guishes the  parable,  as  other  writers  do,  from  the 
fable,  the  myth,  the  proverb,  and  the  allegory.  Into 
these  distinctions  we  need  not  go ;  but  may  content 
ourselves  with  observing  that  the  parable  belongs  to 
the  kind  of  teaching  called  example,  that  it  is  an  in- 
vented or  fictitious  example,  not  real  or  historical, 
that  it  is  distinctly  probable,  is  founded  on  some 
resemblance  between  nature  and  life,  and  looks  to  a 
moral  or  a  religious  end.  It  may  be  further  remarked 
that  the  words  paroimia,  proverb,  smdparabolee,  par- 
able, are  used  interchangeably  in  the  Greek  Testa- 
ment, and  are  representatives  of  one  and  the  same 
Hebrew  word.  As  Stanley  remarks,  the  proverbs  of 
Solomon  might  have  been  called  his  parables,  and  the 
parables  of  Jesus  might  have  been  called  His  prov- 
erbs. Still,  we  have  no  trouble  in  separating  the  two 
forms  of  teaching  as  they  occur  in  the  Gospels 

In  the  East  man  seems  to  live  in  closer  relations 
with  Nature  than  in  the  West.  He  perceives  poetic 
and  ethical  elements  in  her  various  objects  that  are 
but  faintly  revealed  to  the  duller  vision  of  his  West- 
ern brother.  In  Oriental  literature,  plants  and  ani- 
mals are  used  as  instruments  of  teaching  with  won- 
derful effect  and  beauty — the  fable,  the  apologue,  and 


160  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

the  parable.  Admirably  adapted  as  all  these  forms 
of  teaching  are  to  ethics  and  religion,  they  are  even 
less  capable  of  expressing  scientific  truth  than  prov- 
erbs. What  could  be  more  admirable,  from  the 
merely  literary  standpoint,  than  the  apologue  of 
Jotham,  found  in  the  ninth  chapter  of  the  Judges? 

The  trees  went  forth  on  a  time  to  anoint  a  king  over  them ; 
and  they  said  unto  the  olive  tree,  Reign  thou  over  us.  But  the 
olive  tree  said  unto  them,  Should  I  leave  my  fatness,  wherewith 
by  me  they  honor  God  and  man ,  and  go  to  be  promoted  over  the 
trees?  And  the  trees  said  to  the  fig  tree,  Come  thou,  and  reign 
over  us.  But  the  fig  tree  said  unto  them,  Should  I  forsake  my 
sweetness,  and  my  good  fruit,  and  go  to  be  promoted  over  the 
trees?  Then  said  the  trees  unto  the  vine,  Come  thou,  and  reign 
over  us .  And  the  vine  said  unto  them ,  Should  I  leave  my  wine , 
which  cheereth  God  and  man ,  and  go  to  be  promoted  over  the 
trees?  Then  said  all  the  trees  unto  the  bramble,  Come  thou, 
and  reign  over  us .  And  the  bramble  said  unto  the.  trees ,  If  in 
truth  ye  anoint  me  king  over  you,  then  come  and  put  your  trust 
in  my  shadow:  and  if  not,  let  fire  come  out  of  the  bramble,  and 
devour  the  cedars  of  Lebanon. 

The  parable  was  in  familiar  use  in  Judaea  from  the 
time  of  the  Judges  to  the  time  of  Jesus.  The  Rabbis 
used  it  constantly,  although  their  parables  are  hard 
and  jejune  compared  with  those  of  the  Great  Master. 
Jesus  was,  therefore,  familiar  with  this  mode  of 
teaching,  and  it  was  entirely  natural  that  He  should 
resort  to  it.  Then,  besides  its  adaptation  to  ethical 
and  spiritual  purposes,  the  parable  is  admirably 
adapted  to  that  stage  of  human  development  when 
the  mind  feeds  directly  upon  the  stores  of  memory. 
It  is  a  form  of  teaching  that  is  even  more  likely  to  be 
remembered  than  the  proverb;  and  it  is  not  unlikely 
that  the  parables  of  Jesus  have  been  more  fully  re- 


HIS  METHODS  OF  TEACHING.  161 

ported  by  the  Evangelists  than  any  other  form  of  His 
teaching.  In  fact,  He  used  the  parable  with  such 
extraordinary  effect  as  to  make  it  peculiarly  His  own. 
In  the  words  of  Renan:  "It  was  especially  in  para- 
bles that  the  Master  excelled.  Nothing  in  Judaism 
had  given  Him  the  model  of  this  delightful  style. 
He  Himself  created  it."  The  last  statement,  how- 
ever, is  not  strictly  true,  except  in  the  sense  that  He 
appears  to  have  created  the  parabolic  sermon. 

In  view  of  the  evident  adaptation  of  the  parable  to 
His  use,  it  may  seem  strange  that  He  did  not  use  it 
from  the  beginning  of  His  ministry.  At  least  it  is  the 
fact  that  He  did  not.  His  earlier  teachings  were  con- 
veyed in  declaratory  discourses  and  in  dialogues.  He 
seems  to  have  taken  up  the  parable  suddenly.  It 
was  in  the  presence  of  the  great  multitude  gathered 
on  the  shore  of  the  sea,  as  we  read  in  Matthew  xiii. 
Dr.  Geikie  supposes  that  its  employment  sprang  im- 
mediately out  of  the  meager  results  that  had  thus  far 
attended  His  ministry.  His  past  mode  of  teaching 
did  not  seem  suited  to  the  new  circumstances.  It  had 
left  small  permanent  results;  and  a  new  and  simpler 
style  of  instruction,  specially  adapted  to  the  dullness 
and  untrained  minds  and  hearts  of  His  auditors, 
would  at  least  arrest  their  attention  more  surely,  and 
force  them  to  a  measure  of  reflection.  "Pressing 
through  the  vast  crowd  to  the  shore  of  the  Lake,  He 
entered  a  fishing-boat,  and,  sitting  down  at  its  prow, 
the  highest  part  of  it,  began,  from  this  convenient 
pulpit,  as  it  lightly  rocked  on  the  waters,  the  first  of 
those  wondrous  parables  in  which  He  henceforth  so 
frequently  embodied  His  teachings."*  The  parable  of 

11  *  Life  and  Words  of  Christ,  Vol.  II. ,  p.  153. 

f 

(tJNIVERSITY 


162  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

the  sower  was  the  first  one  that  He  uttered ;  but  from 
this  time  on  He  used  this  mode  of  instruction  so  fre- 
quently that  we  read:  "But  without  a  parable  spake 
He  not  unto  them:  and  when  they  were  alone,  He  ex- 
pounded all  things  to  His  disciples."  *  As  a  teacher 
Jesus  has  ennobled  and  dignified  the  things  of  com- 
mon life.  He  has  shown  that,  for  the  ends  of  spirit- 
ual teaching,  nothing  is  common  or  unclean.  He 
struck  this  note  in  the  parable  of  the  sower.  The 
imagery  is  furnished  by  the  scene  spread  out  before 
Him  as  He  sat  in  the  boat  by  the  side  of  the  sea;  the 
sown  fields,  the  grain  in  various  stages  of  growth,  the 
hard-trodden  paths  running  through  the  fields,  the 
stony  places  in  which  life  made  an  unequal  struggle, 
the  thorns,  and  the  deep,  rich  soil  which  produced 
grain  in  the  greatest  abundance.  Dr.  Geikie  has  thus 
portrayed  the  more  striking  features  of  the  new  mode 
of  teaching: 

Its  characteristic  is  the  presentation  of  moral  and  religious 
truth  in  a  more  vivid  form  than  is  possible  by  mere  precept,  or 
abstract  statement,  use  being  made  for  this  end  of  some  inci- 
dent drawn  from  life  or  nature ,  by  which  the  lesson  sought  to 
be  given  is  pictured  to  the  eye,  and  thus  imprinted  on  the  mem- 
ory, and  made  more  emphatic.  Analogies  hitherto  unsuspected 
between  familiar  natural  facts  and  spiritual  phenomena;  les- 
sons of  duty  enforced  by  some  simple  imaginary  narrative  or 
incident;  striking  parallels  and  comparisons,  which  made  the 
homeliest  trifles  symbols  of  the  highest  truths,  abound  in  all  the 
discourses  of  Jesus,  but  are  still  more  frequent  from  this  time. 
Nothing  was  henceforth  left  unused.  The  light,  the  darkness, 
the  houses  around,  the  games  of  childhood,  the  sightless  way- 
side beggar,  the  foxes  of  the  hills,  the  leathern  bottles  hung  up 
from  every  rafter,  the  patched  or  new  garment,  and  even  the 

*  Mark  iv.  34. 


HIS  METHODS  OF  TEACHING.  163 

noisy  hen  amidst  her  chickens,  serve,  in  turn,  to  illustrate  some 
lofty  truth.  The  sower  on  the  hillside  at  hand,  the  flaming 
weeds  among  the  corn,  the  common  mustard  plant,  the  leaven 
in  the  woman's  dough,  the  treasure  disclosed  by  the  passing 
ploughshare,  the  pearl  brought  by  the  traveling  merchant  from 
distant  lands  for  sale  at  Bethsaida  or  Tiberias, — at  Philip's 
court  or  that  of  Antipas, — the  draw -net  seen  daily  on  the  Lake, 
the  pitiless  servant,  the  laborers  in  the  vineyards  around — any 
detail  of  every -day  life — was  elevated,  as  the  occasion  de- 
manded, to  be  the  vehicle  of  the  sublimest  lessons.  Others 
have  uttered  parables;  but  Jesus  so  far  transcends  them,  that 
He  may  justly  be  called  the  creator  of  this  mode  of  instruction.* 

What  has  been  said  will  suffice  for  an  external  view 
of  the  parables.  So  far  the  subject  presents  no  diffi- 
culties. The  one  hard  question  is  now  to  be  dealt 
with. 

This  one  hard  question  suggests  to  our  minds  a 
number  of  phases.  Why  did  not  Jesus  use  the  para- 
ble from  the  beginning?  Why  did  He  at  last  intro- 
duce it?  In  what  relation  does  its  introduction  stand 
to  the  progress  of  His  ministry?  What  was  His  pur- 
pose, or  what  were  His  purposes,  in  introducing  it? 
The  one  central  question  herein  involved,  the  histori- 
ans of  Jesus  and  the  commentators  have  treated  at 
great  length.  It  will  be  my  purpose  to  state  the  diffi- 
culty and  to  suggest  the  answer,  rather  than  to  discuss 
the  subject  thoroughly. 

There  can  hardly  be  a  doubt  that  a  great  majority  of 
the  readers  of  the  Gospels,  on  being  asked  the  ques- 
tion, would  say  that  they  have  obtained  their  clearest 
and  most  satisfactory  ideas  of  Jesus 's  teaching  from 
His  parables.  Neither  can  there  be  doubt  that  this 

*  Life  and  Words  of  Christ,  Vol.  II. ,  pp.  153,  154. 


164  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

answer  would  represent  the  real  facts.  The  inculca- 
tion of  ethical  truth  is  so  dependent  upon  the  use  of 
similitudes,  analogies,  symbols — that  is,  the  ethical 
use  of  Nature — and  Jesus  is  such  a  consummate  mas- 
ter of  this  mode  of  teaching,  that  the  parables  have 
long  been  looked  to  as  the  most  effective  teaching 
found  in  The  New  Testament.  "  Behold  a  sower  went 
forth  to  sow;  "  "the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto 
a  man  which  sowed  good  seed  in  his  field;"  "the 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  a  grain  of  mustard 
seed;  "  "  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  leaven;  " 
"the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  a  treasure  hid  in 
a  field;  "  "  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  a  mer- 
chantman seeking  goodly  pearls;"  "the  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  like  unto  a  net  cast  into  the  sea;  "  "  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  is  like  unto  a  certain  king  which  would 
take  account  of  his  servants;  "  "the  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  like  unto  a  man  that  is  a  householder;  "  "a 
certain  man  had  two  sons,  and  he  came  to  the  first;  " 
"there  was  a  certain  householder  which  planted  a 
vineyard;  "  "the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  a 
certain  king,  which  made  a  marriage  for  his  son;  " 
"the  kingdom  of  heaven  shall  be  likened  unto  ten 
virgins;  "  "the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  as  a  man  trav- 
eling into  a  far  country;  "  "  so  is  the  kingdom  of  God 
as  if  a  man  should  cast  seed  into  the  ground;  " 
"there  was  a  certain  creditor  which  had  two  debt- 
ors; "  "a  certain  man  went  down  from  Jerusalem  to 
Jericho  and  fell  among  thieves;  "  "  which  of  you  shall 
have  a  friend,  and  shall  go  unto  him  at  midnight?  " 
"the  ground  of  a  rich  man  brought  forth  plenti- 
fully; "  "a  certain  man  had  a  fig-tree  planted  in  his 


HIS  METHODS  OF  TEACHING.  165 

vineyard;  "  "  a  certain  man  made  a  great  supper;  " 
"  if  a  man  have  a  hundred  sheep  and  one  of  them  be 
gone  astray;  "  "what  woman  having  ten  pieces  of  sil- 
ver, if  she  lose  one  piece;  "  "a  certain  man  had  two 
sons,  and  the  youngest  said  to  his  father;  "  "there 
was  a  certain  rich  man  which  had  a  steward;"  "  there 
was  a  certain  rich  man  which  was  clothed  in  purple 
and  fine  linen;  "  "which  of  you  having  a  servant 
plowing  or  feeding  cattle;  "  "there  was  in  a  city  a 
judge  which  feared  not  Grod  neither  regarded  man;  " 
"  two  men  went  up  into  the  Temple  to  pray,  the  one  a 
Pharisee,  and  the  other  a  publican;"  "a  certain 
nobleman  went  into  a  far  country  to  secure  for  him- 
self a  kingdom;  " — the  thirty  parables  introduced 
with  these  words  do  indeed  present  many  points  of 
difficulty  to  the  interpreter,  but  they  still  hold  up  the 
one  central  object  in  lights  so  numerous,  so  varied,  so 
striking,  that  even  the  dullest  mind  cannot  fail  to 
obtain  instruction  and  inspiration  from  them.  They 
are  a  kaleidoscope,  exhibiting  to  the  mind  in  the  most 
effective  manner  the  most  important  aspects  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven.  And  still,  they  by  no  means 
exhaust  the  wonderful  mastery  that  Jesus  exerted 
over  nature  and  common  life  for  the  purposes  of 
ethical  teaching. 

Again,  were  the  readers  of  the  Gospels  asked  why 
Jesus  made  use  of  the  parable,  the  majority  would 
doubtless  say  that  it  was  owing  to  its  clearness  and 
beauty  as  a  mode  of  teaching.  This  is  indeed  a  part 
of  the  answer,  but  only  a  part.  Were  this  all,  the 
parables  would  present  no  difficulty.  But  it  is  not 
all.  Jesus  had  made  use  of  similitude  and  analogy 


166  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

from  the  beginning  of  His  ministry,  as  in  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount;  but  He  takes  up  the  parable  with  a 
suddenness  that  attracts  the  attention  of  every 
thoughtful  reader,  who  asks  at  once,  "  Why  not  be- 
fore? "  "Why  now?"  The  new  mode  of  teaching 
made  the  same  impression  upon  the  minds  of  the  dis- 
ciples that  it  makes  upon  our  minds,  and  led  at  once 
to  a  deeply  interesting  conversation  between  them 
and  the  Master. 

One  evidence  that  the  parable  of  the  sower  was  the 
first  one  that  Jesus  uttered,  is  the  fact  that  the  dis- 
ciples, as  soon  as  they  could  find  an  opportunity, 
came  and  asked  Him,  "  Why  speakest  thou  unto 
them  in  parables?"  *  His  answer  discloses  a  double 
motive.  While  His  main  purpose  was,  as  Trench 
states,  "either  to  illustrate  or  prove,  and  thus  to 
make  clearer  the  truths  which  He  had  in  hand,"  a 
"  minor  purpose  was  to  withdraw  from  certain  of  His 
hearers  the  knowledge  of  truths  which  they  are  un- 
worthy or  unfit  to  receive."  He  tells  His  disciples 
that  to  some  it  is  given  to  know  the  mysteries  of  the 
kingdom  of  God,  while  to  others  it  is  not  given.  He 
speaks  to  the  second  class  in  parables,  because  they 
do  not  see  in  seeing  or  hear  in  hearing,  neither  under- 
stand ;  for  in  them  is  fulfilled  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah 
in  regard  to  grossness  of  heart,  dullness  of  ears,  and 
blindness  of  eyes.  In  the  course  of  the  conversation, 
He  explains  to  them  some  of  the  deepest  truths  of  the 
spiritual  life.  One  of  these  is  that  the  operations  and 
results  of  the  intellect  are  dependent  upon  the  state 
of  the  heart;  men  spiritually  deaf,  blind,  and  gross 

*  Matt.  xiii.  10. 


HIS  METHODS  OF  TEACHING.  167 

cannot  hear,  see,  and  understand  spiritual  things. 
The  reception  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  like  the  recep- 
tion of  all  other  spiritual  truth,  is  limited  by  the 
moral  disposition.  Still  another  lesson  is  that  some 
spiritual  knowledge  is  essential  to  the  increase  of 
knowledge.  This  is  expressed  in  both  a  positive  and 
a  negative  form,  the  second  being  strongly  paradox- 
ical. "For  whosoever  hath,  to  him  shall  be  given, 
and  he  shall  have  more  abundantly;  but  whosover 
hath  not,  from  him  shall  be  taken  away  even  that  he 
hath."  The  lesson  is  the  same  that  is  taught  in  the 
parable  of  the  talents.  The  dread  sentence,  "  Take 
therefore  the  talent  from  him,"  *  is  executed 
through  the  inevitable  operation  of  spiritual  law,  and 
is  in  full  accord  with  the  profoundest  educational 
philosophy.  It  is  only  through  activity,  or  use,  that 
any  talent,  gift,  or  power  makes  increase ;  and  it  is 
only  through  neglect  or  disuse  that  it  diminishes  and 
is  finally  lost.  This  is  what  the  pedagogist  calls  the 
law  of  self-activity. 

It  is  as  plain  that  Jesus  used  the  parable  to  obscure 
truth,  as  that  He  used  it  to  illuminate  truth.  This  is 
clearly  implied  in  His  own  words.  Why  He  should 
desire  to  obscure  it,  is  a  question  that  would  lead  us 
far  deeper  into  the  philosophy  of  spiritual  things 
than  we  are  prepared  to  go.  It  is  by  no  means  the 
only  question  of  the  kind  that  The  Bible  presents  to 
our  understanding.  If  mystery  it  be,  it  is  one  that 
often  comes  to  our  attention. 

But,  on  the  whole,  the  parables  have  contributed 
wonderfully  to  the  moral  and  religious  education  of 

*  Matt.  xxv.  28. 


168  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

the  world.  They  have  entwined  themselves  around 
the  hearts  of  men.  They  have  become  interlaced 
with  the  experiences  of  practical  life.  They  have 
irradiated  minds  that  otherwise  were  confused  and 
dark.  They  have  touched  feelings  that  have  re- 
sponded to  no  other  stimulus.  They  have  set  the 
most  valuable  truths  in  the  clearest  and  most  striking 
lights.  They  have  energized  feeble  wills.  Think  for 
a  moment  of  the  mission  in  the  world  of  the  parable 
of  the  Good  Samaritan,  or  of  the  Prodigal  Son.  Such 
being  the  case,  we  may  at  first  be  surprised  that  the 
parables  should  ever  have  been  blocks  of  stumbling. 
But  we  must  remember  that  light  and  darkness  are 
relative  terms,  depending  upon  the  point  of  view  of 
the  individual  or  of  the  age.  Canon  Farrar  presents 
this  view  of  the  subject  in  a  few  sentences  with  which 
this  chapter  may  fitly  close. 

To  us,  who  from  infancy  have  read  the  parable  [of  the  Sower] 
side  by  side  with  Christ's  own  interpretation  of  it,  the  meaning 
is  singularly  clear  and  plain,  and  we  see  in  it  the  liveliest  images 
of  the  danger  incurred  by  the  cold  and  indifferent,  by  the  im- 
pulsive and  shallow,  by  the  worldly  and  ambitious,  by  the  pre- 
occupied and  luxurious,  as  they  listen  to  the  Word  of  God. 
But  it  was  not  so  easy  to  those  who  heard  it.  Even  the  dis- 
ciples failed  to  catch  its  full  significance,  although  they  reserved 
their  request  for  an  explanation  till  they  and  their  Master 
should  be  alone.  It  is  clear  that  parables  like  this,  so  luminous 
to  us,  but  so  difficult  to  these  simple  listeners,  suggested 
thoughts  which  to  them  were  wholly  unfamiliar.  * 

*  Vol.1.,  pp.  323,324. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

HIS   RECOGNITION   OF   APPERCEPTION. 

APPERCEPTION  is  comparatively  a  new  word  in  the 
vocabulary  of  mental  science;  or,  if  not  so,  the  stress 
that  is  now  laid  upon  the  thing  for  which  it  stands  is 
new.  We  must  seek  to  gain  a  clear  idea  of  what  the 
term  means. 

A  child's  mind  at  birth  is  not,  as  some  philosophers 
have  supposed,  an  inert  and  powerless  substance, 
capable  only  of  passively  receiving  impressions.  It  is 
not  a  ball  of  wax,  a  sheet  of  blank  paper,  a  cabinet  of 
drawers,  or  a  block  of  marble.  Ideas  are  not  mere 
reflections  of  phases  of  the  world,  similar  to  pictures 
resulting  from  the  exposure  of  human  faces  to  the 
sensitive  plate  of  the  camera.  The  mind  is  power  or 
energy,  capable  of  action  whenever  it  is  brought  into 
relation  with  the  world;  and  our  earliest  ideas  result 
from  the  establishment  of  such  points  of  contact. 
From  the  moment  that  it  begins  to  act,  the  mind  be- 
gins to  accumulate  a  store  of  materials,  variously 
named  "  ideas,"  "images,"  "perceptions,"  "concep- 
tions," "facts,"  "events,"  and  "thoughts."  To 
discriminate  these  terms  would  be  far  from  my  pur- 
pose, but  we  may  say  that  a  perception  proper  is  an 
idea  of  an  object  known  in  itself,  and  that  a  concep- 
tion proper  is  an  idea  of  an  object  known  in  its  rela- 

(169) 


170  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

tions.  The  one  is  a  single  or  particular  idea,  and 
therefore  concrete;  the  other  is  general,  and  therefore 
abstract.  When  once  the  mental  current  has  set  in,  this 
store  of  material  plays  the  most  important  part  in  its 
onward  flow.  We  gain  knowledge  through  knowledge ; 
or,  as  one  has  said,  "apperception  means  the  grasping 
of  new  ideas  by  the  aid  of  present  similar  ones.  The 
child's  perceptions,"  says  this  writer,  "  are  not  heaped 
up  like  dead  treasures,  but  almost  as  soon  as  acquired 
they  become  living  forces  that  assist  in  the  assimila- 
tion of  new  perceptions,  thus  strengthening  the  power 
of  apprehension.  They  are  the  contents  of  the  soul 
that  now  permanently  assert  themselves  in  the  act  of 
perception.  For  wherever  it  is  at  all  possible,  the 
child  refers  the  new  to  the  related  older  ideas.  With 
the  aid  of  familiar  perceptions,  he  appropriates  that 
which  is  foreign  to  him,  and  conquers  with  the  arms 
of  apperception  the  outer  world  which  assails  his 
senses."*  And  not  the  outer  world  alone,  but  the 
inner  world  as  well.  Thus,  a  girl  two  years  old  called 
a  picture  of  spectral  forms  of  women  with  floating 
garments,  birds;  cornstalks,  trees;  swimming  swans, 
fishes,  and  mistook  a  flag  that  floated  from  the  top  of 
a  house  for  a  white  horse.  A  child  brought  up  in  the 
South  coming  North  called  snowflakes  butterflies. 
Similarly  any  child  calls,  or  is  likely  to  call,  every 
man  his  papa,  and  every  woman  his  mamma.  Chil- 
dren six  years  of  age  taken  to  a  zoological  garden  for 
the  first  time  have  been  known  to  call  buffaloes  cows, 
ibexes  goats,  and  tigers  kittens.  In  this  way  the 
process  of  assimilation  goes  on  by  relating  the  new 

*  Lange:  Apperception,  p.  55. 


HIS  RECOGNITION  OF  APPERCEPTION.  171 

objects  to  the  most  closely  related  old  ideas;  only,  as 
experience  widens  and  judgment  grows,  we  become 
more  and  more  wary  in  referring  new  objects  to 
familiar  categories. 

The  word  "object,"  as  here  used,  must  embrace 
ideas  and  thoughts.  In  learning  we  proceed  from  the 
known  to  the  unknown;  in  thinking  we  can  reason 
only  from  what  we  know.  A  distinguished  authority 
has  said:  "When  we  know  a  new  object  we  identify 
the  object,  or  those  features  of  it  which  were  familiar 
to  us  before;  we  recognize  it;  we  explain  it;  we  inter- 
pret the  new  by  our  previous  knowledge,  and  thus  are 
enabled  to  proceed  from  the  known  to  the  unknown, 
and  make  new  acquisitions;  in  recognizing  the  object 
we  classify  it  under  various  general  classes;  in  identi- 
fying it  with  what  we  have  seen  before,  we  note  also 
differences  which  characterize  the  new  object  and 
lead  to  the  definition  of  new  species  or  varieties. 
It  is  not  what  we  see  and  hear  and  feel, 
but  what  we  inwardly  digest,  or  assimilate, — what  we 
apperceive — that  really  adds  to  our  knowledge."* 
Thus,  it  is  the  inner  eye  that  sees,  and  the  inner  ear 
that  hears. 

The  rapidity  of  assimilation  depends  directly  on  the 
abundance  of  the  mental  store  and  the  closeness  of 
the  resemblance  existing  between  the  new  objects  and 
the  old  ones.  It  is  said  that  certain  sailors  persuaded 
a  company  of  Esquimaux  to  sail  with  them  to  London. 
They  anticipated  much  enjoyment  in  seeing  the  aston- 
ishment and  admiration  that  the  men  of  the  North 
would  exhibit  when  they  were  introduced  to  the  wor- 

*  Dr.  W.  T.  Harris. 


172  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

ders  of  the  great  city.  Their  astonishment  was  great 
when  they  saw  the  Esquimaux  walking  through  the 
streets  utterly  indifferent  to  everything  about  them. 
Says  the  writer  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  the  inci- 
dent: "The  explanation  is  simple.  These  inhab- 
itants of  the  frozen  North  had  no  store  of  related 
predicates  with  which  to  interpret  the  wonders  about 
them.  We  have  no  interest  in  that  for  which  we  have 
no  understanding,  no  related  concepts.''*  One  advan- 
tage that  an  educated  man  enjoys  over  an  ignorant 
one  is  his  greater  store  of  images,  ideas,  and  thoughts 
that  facilitate  the  process  of  assimilation.  The  man 
who  knows  most  can  learn  most;  experience  is  a 
mental  factor  that  nothing  else  can  compensate  for; 
and  this  is  why  the  most  intelligent  people  who  visited 
the  Columbian  Exposition  derived  from  the  visit  the 
greatest  benefit,  and  why  a  scholar  is  the  man  who 
sees  most  in  a  great  library.  Thus,  in  science  as  in 
religion,  to  him  that  has  is  given,  and  he  has  an 
abundance.  The  case  of  the  Esquimaux  is  in  no 
sense  strange,  but  what  might  have  been  expected. 
An  American  visiting  the  Orient,  especially  if  he  is 
ignorant,  is  at  first  confused,  and  perhaps  even, 
stunned,  by  the  new  life  that  he  sees  about  him; 
everything  is  new  and  strange;  he  is  not  able  to  refer 
the  new  objects  to  old  classes,  or  if  he  does  he  is  com- 
pelled to  correct  his  classification;  the  result  being 
that  he  must  begin,  in  a  sense,  his  mental  life  over 
again  and  readjust  himself  to  the  world. 

Still  more,  in  the  history  of  mental  growth  the  will 
plays  an   important   part.     We  must  not  liken   the 

*  De  Garmo:    Essentials  of  Method,  p.  30. 


HIS  RECOGNITION  OF  APPERCEPTION.  173 

mind  to  a  magnet,  which  causes  objects  to  cling  to  it; 
on  the  contrary,  the  will  turns  the  intellect  to  this  side 
and  to  that;  it  brings  this  and  that  object  into  rela- 
tion to  the  knowing  power;  and  it  measureably  re- 
moves from  the  field  of  consciousness  what  are 
deemed  undesirable  objects  and  undesirable  ideas. 
Moreover,  the  feelings  play  their  part;  they  furnish 
motives,  contribute  interest,  and  impart  to  ideas  their 
own  color.  Very  important  is  the  influence  that  the 
tone  of  the  mind  exerts  on  the  formation  of  individ- 
ual ideas,  and  the  general  view  that  is  taken  of  a  sub- 
ject or  of  the  world. 

There  are  numerous  reasons  why  the  application  of 
the  foregoing  ideas  to  morals  and  religion  is  import- 
ant. In  the  formation  of  moral  and  religious  ideas, 
the  feelings  and  the  will  are  particularly  potent. 
What  Bacon  calls  their  "suffusion"  invades  the 
domain  of  the  intellect  and  puts  out  the  "dry  light" 
of  reason.  The  affections  and  the  will  also  are  po- 
tent in  the  sphere  of  moral  conduct,  the  will  in  truth 
holding  the  central  place.  Furthermore,  scientific 
ideas,  since  they  are  so  different,  aid  in  the  formation 
of  spiritual  ideas  only  indirectly;  a  fact,  it  may  be 
remarked,  which  goes  far  towards  accounting  for  the 
poverty  of  many  intellectual  men  on  the  spiritual 
side. 

We  shall  now  look  at  some  of  the  facts  that  we 
meet  in  the  life  of  Jesus  on  which  the  doctrine  of  ap- 
perception throws  a  clear,  strong  light. 

There  was  the  woman  of  Samaria,  who,  when  Jesus 
spoke  of  living  water,  could  at  first  think  of  nothing 
but  the  water  in  the  well,  and  at  last  was  unable  to 


174  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

rise  above  the  conception  of  water  that  should  slake 
her  thirst  once  for  all,  and  so  make  it  unnecessary  for 
her  to  come  to  the  well  again  to  draw. 

There  was  Nicodemus,  who,  when  Jesus  spoke  of  a 
second  birth,  could  think  of  nothing  but  a  new  birth 
of  the  body.  How  can  a  man  be  born  when  he  is  old? 
Nor  did  the  ruler  succeed  better  when  Jesus  illus- 
trated the  birth  of  the  Spirit  by  the  blowing  of  the 
wind.  Then  there  is  a  distinct  recognition  of  the  cen- 
tral idea  in  apperception  in  the  question  that  Jesus 
puts  to  Nicodemus:  "If  I  have  told  you  of  earthly 
things  and  ye  believe  not,  how  shall  ye  believe  if  I 
tell  you  of  heavenly  things?" 

There  were  the  disciples,  who  made  their  way  slow- 
ly in  understanding  the  new  ideas  because  they 
were  so  unlike  the  ideas  that  they  had  received 
from  the  current  teaching  and  the  current  religious 
life;  these  were  so  formal,  so  material,  and  so  legal 
that  the  profoundly  spiritual  truths  which  Jesus 
brought  them  were  assimilated  but  slowly  and  imper- 
fectly. When  the  Master  spoke  to  them  of  His  king- 
dom, they  thought  of  a  throne  and  a  sceptre,  and  of 
a  place  at  His  right  hand  or  at  His  left.  A  greatness 
that  consisted  in  being  a  minister,  and  a  chieftianship 
manifested  in  a  life  of  serving,  were  conceptions  that 
long  passed  their  comprehension.  Pedagogically 
speaking,  Jesus  used  no  small  part  of  the  time  that 
He  gave  to  their  personal  instruction  in  correcting 
their  false  classifications  of  His  ideas;  and  they  were 
never  brought  into  true  relations  with  Him  until  they 
saw  a  new  meaning  in  the  word  "kingdom." 

Finally,  there  were  the  Jewish  people,  upon  whom 


HIS  RECOGNITION  OF  APPERCEPTION.  175 

His  teachings  were  largely  lost  because  they  really 
could  not  understand  them.  They  believed  in  a  Mes- 
siah to  come;  they  believed  that  he  would  be  like 
David,  and  the  material  elements  of  David's  charac- 
ter had  so  excluded  from  their  minds  the  spiritual 
element,  that  they  thought  the  Messiah  would  be  a 
temporal  king,  and  they  would  have  no  other. 

No  teacher  has  more  clearly  seen  how  potent  the 
state  of  the  mind  is  in  learning  than  Jesus.  He  de- 
plores the  hearts  that  are  gross,  the  ears  that  are  dull, 
the  eyes  that  are  closed ;  and  blesses  the  eyes  that  see 
and  the  ears  that  hear.  He  uttered  a  profound  truth, 
and  one  that  reaches  much  farther  than  the  immediate 
subject,  when  He  said  that  whosoever  should  will  to 
do  the  will  of  God  should  know  whether  the  doctrine 
He  taught  was  true.  He  understood  perfectly  why  it 
was  that  the  world  knew  Him  not,  and  also  why  it 
was  that  His  own,  when  He  came  to  them,  received 
Him  not. 


CHAPTEE  XV. 

HIS    USE    OF    THE    DEVELOPING    METHOD. 

ON  NOTHING  do  modern  educationalists  more  pride 
themselves  than  on  their  so-called  "developing  meth- 
od." It  is,  no  doubt,  the  most  valuable  of  modern 
contributions  to  educational  progress.  The  following 
are  its  leading  characteristics : 

1.  The  fundamental  fact  in  all  mental  life  is  the 
self-activity  of  the  mind.  To  teach,  or,  more  broadly, 
to  educate,  is  to  awaken  and  direct  this  activity.  You 
cannot  put  facts  and  ideas  into  a  child's  mind  as  you 
can  put  marbles  into  his  pocket;  his  mind  is  not  a 
box  or  storehouse  that  can  be  mechanically  filled. 
Nor  can  you  convince  a  man  of  any  truth  or  proposi- 
tion by  merely  loading  him  with  arguments ;  his  mind 
is  not  a  pair  of  scales  that  inclines  this  way  or  that 
way  according  as  the  heavier  weights  are  thrown  into 
this  or  that  scale-pan.  A  child  can  acquire  facts  and 
ideas  only  through  his  powers  of  perception  and  ap- 
perception, and  a  man  can  be  convinced  of  a  proposi- 
tion only  as  he  thinks  out,  or,  what  amounts  to  the 
same  thing,  weighs  the  arguments  that  go  to  prove 
its  truth.  All  that  you  can  do  for  the  child  or  the 
man  is  wisely  to  select  and  skillfully  to  present  to  his 
mind  the  ideas,  facts,  and  arguments  in  question. 

(176) 


HIS  USE  OF  THE  DEVELOPING  METHOD.          177 

2.  Due  respect  must  be  paid  to  the  order  of  men- 
tal growth;  instruction  must  be  graduated  to  the  abil- 
ity of  the  mind  to  receive  and  to  assimilate  it.     Babes 
cannot  digest  strong  meat,  and  men  cannot  live  on 
milk.     Then,  as  we  saw  in  the  last  chapter,  what  the 
pupil  already  knows  is  the  most*  important  factor  in 
learning  what    he    does   not   know.     The    more    he 
knows,  relatively  speaking,  the  more  he  can  learn; 
and  for  the  reason  that  the  larger  his  store  of  facts, 
ideas,  and  thoughts,  the  more  rapidly  and  completely 
can  the  process  of  apperception  go  on.     The  larger 
the  lump  of  leaven  that  is  put  in  the  meal,  the  more 
quickly  will  the  whole  be  leavened.     The  man  who 
has  read  most  books  finds  most  to  interest  him  in  a 
library,  and  the  man  who  has  seen  most  of  the  world 
is  the  most  appreciative  traveler.     Still  further,  one 
thing  leads  to  another,  both  in  respect  to  the  features 
of  single  objects  and  in  respect  to  combinations  of 
objects.     Hence  the  current  teaching  maxim,  to  pro- 
ceed from  the  known  to  the  unknown. 

3.  In  the  presentation  of  any  subject,  free  use 
must  be  made  of  objects,  examples,  and  illustrations, 
and  especially  in  the  early  stage  of  mental  progress. 
In  particular  will  the  skillful  teacher  of  abstract  sub- 
jects, such  as  moral  and  religious  truths,  search  out 
analogies    between    the    natural    and    the    spiritual 
worlds. 

These  ideas  are  in  no  sense  new;  the  developing 
method  is  the  method  of  the  human  mind;  it  is  as  old 
as  teaching  itself,  and  all  that  modern  educators  can 
fairly  claim  is  that  they  have  thought  out  these  ideas 

more  clearly  than  the  ancients,  that  they  have  given 
12 


178  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

them  a  more  systematic  form,  and  that  they  have  ap- 
plied them  more  consistently  and  on  a  larger  scale. 
No  teacher  has  more  fully  met  these  conditions  than 
Jesus;  some  of  them  He  has  stated  in  terms,  and  all 
of  them  He  has  illustrated  in  practice. 

• 
First,  it  is  His  constant  endeavor  to  stir  the  mind 

to  vigorous  action;  to  enlist  the  intellect,  the  feelings, 
and  the  will.  Hence  His  rejection  of  all  mere  tradi- 
tionalism, formalism,  and  mechanism;  hence  His 
efforts  to  get  men  out  of  their  ruts  and  routine  into  a 
vigorous  and  healthy  spiritual  life.  No  teacher  has 
more  clearly  seen  the  difference  between  the  accept- 
ance of  a  dogma  or  the  performance  of  a  rite,  and 
real  faith.  He  demanded,  "Why  call  ye  me  Lord, 
Lord,"  and  do  not  the  things  which  I  say?  "  *  and  He 
followed  up  the  question  with  the  declaration  that  the 
hearer  and  the  doer  of  the  Word  is  like  a  man  who 
builds  his  house  on  a  rock,  while  he  who  hears  and 
does  not  do  is  like  a  man  who  builds  on  the  sand. 
The  distinction  is  so  fundamental  that  to  miss  it  re- 
veals an  incapacity  to  deal  effectively  with  moral  and 
religious  training.  Precepts  are  directed  to  the  intel- 
lect, while  spiritual  life  flows  from  the  heart.  It  is 
very  generally  assumed  that  formal  moral  teaching  is 
the  greatest  factor  in  moral  training,  whereas  it  is  the 
least  factor.  It  is  a  mistake  into  which  moral  and 
religious  teachers  are  peculiarly  liable  to  fall. 

Secondly,  Jesus  fully  recognizes,  both  in  theory  and 
in  practice,  that  there  is  an  order  or  growth  in  grace, 
as  in  nature.  "For  the  earth  bringeth  forth  fruit  of 

*  Luke  vi.  46. 


HIS  USE  OF  THE  DEVELOPING  METHOD.          179 

herself;  first  the  blade,  then  the  ear,  after  that  the 
full  corn  in  the  ear."  *  How  far  a  progress  of  doc- 
trine can  be  traced  in  the  Gospels  as  a  whole,  is  too 
large  a  question  for  these  papers ;  but  we  shall  no- 
where find  better  examples  of  a  wise  and  skillful  lead- 
ing of  the  mind  from  thought  to  thought  than  Jesus 
has  furnished. 

Thirdly,  He  also  recognizes  that  the  contents  and 
state  of  the  mind  play  an  important  part  in  the 
growth  of  knowledge  and  of  grace.  This  is  the  great 
lesson  of  the  parable  of  the  talents. t  The  man  to 
whom  five  talents  were  given,  and  the  man  to  whom 
two,  are  commended  because  they  have  been  faithful 
in  what  has  been  entrusted  to  them ;  and  the  man  to 
whom  one  was  given  is  condemned  because  he  has 
not  been  faithful.  The  great  lesson  is  that  of  use  or 
activity.  The  Lord  says  to  the  unfaithful  servant, 
"You  ought  to  have  put  my  money  to  the  bankers; 
and  at  my  coming  I  should  have  received  back  my 
own  with  interest."  His  sentence  is,  "Take  there- 
fore the  talent  from  him,  and  give  it  unto  him  that 
hath  ten  talents."  The  talents  of  increase  that  are 
given  to  the  two  faithful  men,  and  the  talent  of  cap- 
ital that  is  taken  from  the  unfaithful  man,  are  not 
given  and  taken  by  the  arbitrary  command  of  superior 
authority.  The  giving  and  taking  are  alike  the  re- 
sults of  the  operation  of  a  law  that  is  as  wide  as  hu- 
man nature.  Faculties  that  are  exercised  or  used 
increase  in  power,  while  those  that  are  not  exercised 
or  used  waste  away  and  are  finally  lost.  This  is  the 
law  that  doubles  the  capital  of  the  two  men,  and  that 

*  Mark  iv.  28.  t  Matt.  xxv.  14-30. 


180  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

takes  away  the  capital  of  the  third  one.  "For  unto 
every  one  that  hath  shall  be  given,  and  he  shall  have 
abundance;  but  from  him  that  hath  not  shall  be 
taken  away  even  that  which  he  hath."  The  conclu- 
sion is  the  more  emphatic  by  reason  of  the  paradox 

•  that  is  involved  in  the  final  clause.  The  words  are 
Jesus's  formulation  of  the  pedagogical  law,  that  ac- 
tion leads  to  increase  of  power,  and  inaction  to  the 
waste  and  final  loss  of  power. 

y  Fourthly,  no  teacher  has  surpassed  Jesus  in  the  use 
of  illustrations  drawn  from  nature  and  common  life. 
He  had  more  than  the  Oriental  insight  in  detecting 
the  analogies  that  exist  between  material  and  spir- 
itual things.  There  has  appeared  in  the  world  no 
\s  greater  master  of  the  art  of  illustrative  teaching. 
This  is  a  fact  that  continually  presses  upon  the  man 
who  studies  the  four  Gospels. 

We   shall  search  in  vain  for  a  better  example   of 
skillful  teaching  than  the  conversation  of  Jesus  with 

J  the  Samaritan  woman  at  Jacob's  well.*  As  He, 
weary  with  His  journey,  sat  on  the  well  about  noon- 
day, while  His  disciples  were  gone  into  the  town  to 
buy  food,  the  woman,  according  to  the  Oriental  cus- 
tom that  has  doomed  women  to  this  hard  service, 
came  to  draw  water.  He  was  a  Jew,  she  a  Samaritan ; 
and  between  the  two  nations  the  enmity  was  so  bitter 
that  the  common  commerce  of  life  was  rarely  carried 
on.  The  statement  of  the  Evangelist  is,  "The  Jews 
have  no  dealings  with  the  Samaritans."  He  was 
thirsty  from  heat  and  exercise,  but  His  great  object, 
no  doubt,  was  to  draw  the  woman  into  conversation. 

*  John  iv.  5-30. 


HIS  USE  OF  THE  DEVELOPING  METHOD.          181 

He  asked  her  for  water  to  drink.  Surprised,  she 
asked  how  it  was  that  He,  a  Jew,  asked  drink  of  her, 
a  Samaritan.  He  makes  no  answer  to  this  question ; 
more  intent  on  the  woman  than  on  the  water,  He  re- 
plies, If  you  knew  the  gift  of  God,  and  who  it  is 
that  asks  you  for  water  to  drink,  you  would  have 
asked  of  Him  and  He  would  have  given  you  living 
water.  The  deeply  significant  words  mean  nothing 
to  her;  she  is  fully  absorbed  by  the  water  lying  at  the 
bottom  of  the  well  and  the  means  by  which  it  must 
be  raised  to  the  surface;  and  so  she  says,  You  have 
nothing  to  draw  with,  and  the  well  is  deep.  From 
what  spring  do  you  have  this  living  water  of  which 
you  speak?  Are  you  greater  than  Jacob,  who  dug  this 
well,  and  drank  of  it,  himself,  his  children,  and  his 
cattle?  No  impression  has  been  made  upon  her 
hardened  mind,  and  the  Master  tries  again :  He  who 
drinks  of  the  water  in  the  well  shall  thirst  again;  but 
he  who  drinks  of  the  water  that  I  shall  give  him  shall 
never  thirst,  for  it  shall  be  in  him  a  well  of  water  ris- 
ing into  everlasting  life.  The  woman's  interest  now 
begins  to  kindle,  but  in  a  manner  that  plainly  shows 
how  darkened  is  her  mind.  She  thinks,  perhaps,  of 
the  long  succession  of  women  who,  from  the  time  of 
Jacob,  have  come  to  this  well  with  pitchers  attached 
to  a  long  cord  to  draw  water;  she  thinks  certainly  of 
the  many  visits  that  she  herself  has  made  for  this 
purpose;  she  desires  to  be  released  from  the  painful 
drudgery,  and  so  she  says:  Give  me  this  living 
water,  that  I  shall  thirst  no  more,  and  so  shall  no 
longer  be  compelled  to  come  here  to.  draw.  Plainly, 
she  is  still  thinking  of  the  water,  so  cool  and  refresh- 


182  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

ing,  in  the  depths  of  the  well ;  she  feels  no  need  of 
the  water  of  life.  Perceiving  that  He  has  failed  to 
reach  His  purpose  through  the  ideas  which  He  has 
thus  far  used,  Jesus  now  approaches  the  woman  on 
quite  another  side:  Go  and  call  your  husband,  and 
come  here.  She  replies  that  she  has  no  husband. 
Jesus  says  to  the  woman:  You  have  well  said  that 
you  have  no  husband;  you  have  had  five  husbands, 
but  he  whom  you  now  have  is  not  you  husband;  you 
have  told  the  truth.  The  poor  woman,  beginning  now 
to  discover  what  had  thus  far  been  hidden  from  her 
vision,  replies:  I  see  that  you  are  a  prophet.  A  truth 
that  she  has  wholly  failed  to  perceive  while  it  was 
wrapped  up  in  the  beautiful  discourse  about  spiritual 
things  that  has  since  delighted  multitudes,  is  revealed 
to  her  through  His  knowledge  of  a  prosaic  fact  in  her 
own  history.  Desiring  to  make  the  most  of  her  op- 
portunity, she  appeals  to  Him  to  settle  an  old  ques- 
tion between  her  people  and  His  people.  The  Sa- 
maritans worshiped  in  Mount  Gerizim,  while  the 
Jews  said  that  Jerusalem  was  the  place  where  men 
ought  to  worship;  would  He  please  to  settle  the  con- 
troversy? His  reply,  which  ranks  among  the  noblest 
of  His  utterances,  will  engage  our  thought  in  another 
chapter.  But  it  leads  the  woman  to  say,  I  know  that 
Messiah,  when  He  comes,  will  tell  us  all  things.  To 
which  He  replies,  I  that  speak  unto  you  am  He. 

All  in  all,  the  Gospels  contain  no  more  instructive 
and  beautiful  discourse  than  this  one;  and  it  is  the 
more  noteworthy  because  it  was  spoken  to  a  Samar- 
itan, and  to  a  woman  of  doubtful  character,  and  be- 
cause it  illustrates  how  a  truth  that  has  failed  to 


HIS  USE  OF  THE  DEVELOPING  METHOD.          183 

enter  a  human  heart  through  a  high  door  sometimes 
enters  through  a  low  one.  Apparently,  Jesus  might 
have  discoursed  to  the  woman  of  the  water  of  life  for 
hours,  and  made  no  impression,  while  a  fact  about 
herself,  and  one  that  is  by  no  means  creditable  to  her, 
effects  the  purpose.  How  permanent  or  lasting  the 
impression  was,  we  cannot  say;  but  for  the  time,  at 
least,  she  was  lifted  above  the  absorbing  cares  jof  her 
daily  material  life. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

HIS    RECOGNITION    OF    MORAL    PERSPECTIVE. 

BY  PERSPECTIVE,  in  the  literal  sense  of  that  term, 
we  understand  the  art  of  making  such  a  representa- 
tion of  an  object,  or  a  group  of  objects,  upon  a  plane 
surface  as  shall  present  precisely  the  same  appear- 
ance that  the  object  itself  would  present  to  the  eye 
situated  at  that  particular  point.  This  art  involves 
seeing  the  several  parts  of  the  object,  or  of  the  group, 
in  their  true  relations,  as  they  exist  in  nature,  and 
then  in  fixing  these  parts  and  relations  on  paper.  By 
moral  perspective,  we  understand  bringing  the  various 
moral  factors  or  elements  into  such  a  conspectus  as 
shall  show  them  to  the  mind  as  they  really  are  in 
themselves,  and  in  their  relations  to  one  another.  It 
implies  a  normal  view  of  the  moral  world,  or  of  some 
considerable  part  of  it.  It  involves,  therefore,  a 
sound  standard  of  moral  measurement,  and  its  judi- 
cious application  to  the  facts  that  the  view  combines. 
And  this,  again,  requires  the  possession,  on  the  part 
of  the  one  applying  the  measure,  of  experience,  ob- 
servation, and  justness  of  mind. 

While  the  ability  to  see  the  moral  world  in  proper 
perspective  is  of  great  value  to  every  person,  it  is  ab- 
solutely indispensable  to  the  equipment  of  a  moral 

(184) 


UTNI          J;TT 

HIS  RECOGNITION  OF  MORAL  PERSPECTIVE.     185 

teacher;  apart  from  personal  character  it  is,  in  fact, 
the  most  essential  part  of  him.  We  shall  try  Jesus 
by  this  criterion.  The  best  way  to  set  forth  His  un- 
equaled  merits  in  this  relation  will  be  to  consider  Him 
in  connection  with  certain  tendencies  of  human 
nature,  and  particularly  in  contrast  with  teachers  of 
His  own  time  and  country. 

Man's  tendency  to  routine  and  habit  is  very  strong. 
Habit  both  saves  and  enlarges  power,  and  is  abso- 
lutely essential  to  man's  strength  and  efficiency,  phys- 
ical, mental,  and  moral,  but  it  has  its  unpleasant 
compensations.  One  of  these  is  that  it  tends  to  nar- 
row the  mind,  or  to  give  intension  at  the  expense  of 
extension.  Habit  tends  to  become  a  test  of  truth,  a 
standard  of  right  and  propriety,  beyond  what  is  rea- 
sonable; hence,  the  enslavement  of  custom,  the 
tyranny  of  fashion.  It  tends  to  destroy  spontaneity 
and  freedom,  and  to  dry  up  the  very  fountains  of  the 
emotional  life.  It  appears  in  the  field  of  morals  and 
religion.  It  is  indeed  essential  there,  since  a  man 
without  moral  and  religious  habits  is  a  man  without 
moral  and  religious  character.  Religion  is  also  pecu- 
liarly spontaneous,  since  free  thought,  free  spirit, 
and  free  activity  are  of  the  very  essence  of  true  relig- 
ion. Without  habituation,  that  uniformity  of  faith 
and  practice  which  is  essential  to  all  co-operation 
could  not  exist,  to  say  nothing  of  well  regulated  and 
orderly  life;  with  an  excess  of  habituation,  freedom 
of  individual  opinion  and  belief  is  suppressed,  the 
energy  of  individual  arid  social  activity  diminished, 
and  the  slavery  of  a  dead  uniformity  established. 

Habituation  is  the  foundation  stone  of  theological 


186  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

systems.  It  is  the  mainstay  of  lifeless  ritualism  and 
ceremonialism.  It  is  the  sanction  of  tyrannous  eccle- 
siastical organizations.  Nothing  else  is  so  fatal  to 
genuine  religion  and  spirituality  on  its  subjective 
side.  Certain  nations  of  the  Himalaya  Mountains,  it 
is  said,  construct  praying  machines  and  mills.  They 
first  select  an  eligible  site  by  the  side  of  some  stream, 
where  they  set  up  a  water-wheel,  and  connect  it  by  a 
belt  with  a  cylinder  that  is  adjusted  to  revolve  on  an 
axis;  they  place  in  the  cylinder  some  prayers  written 
on  bits  of  paper  or  other  material,  and  consider  that 
at  every  revolution  of  the  cylinder  every  bit  of  paper 
utters  a  prayer.  And  who  shall  say  that  some  Chris- 
tian practices  are  more  re  sonable  or  more  religious? 
The  wide  prevalence  of  the  machine  tendency  in 
religion  is  due,  of  course,  to  the  ease  and  cheapness 
with  which  the  machine  runs,  compared  with  the 
great  expenditure  of  power  that  genuine  religion  calls 
for, — intellectual,  emotional,  and  practical.  The  an- 
cient Jews,  for  example,  found  it  far  easier  to  come 
before  God  with  burnt  offerings,  with  calves,  with 
rams,  and  oil  than  they  did  to  deal  justly,  to  love 
mercy,  and  to  walk  humbly  before  God;  far  easier  to 
tread  His  courts,  to  bring  oblations,  to  burn  incense, 
to  observe  new  moons,  Sabbaths,  and  feasts,  to  call 
assemblies,  to  spread  forth  their  hands,  to  make 
many  prayers  than  they  did  to  wash  them,  to  make 
them  clean,  to  put  away  the  evil  of  their  doing,  to 
cease  to  do  evil,  to  learn  to  do  well,  to  seek  judg- 
ment, to  relieve  the  oppressed,  to  judge  the  father- 
less, to  plead  for  the  widow. 


HIS  RECOGNITION  OF  MORAL  PERSPECTIVE.     187 

How  carefully  Jesus  guarded  His  system  on  this 
side,  all  who  are  readers  of  the  Gospels  know  full 
well.  He  made  a  good  life  His  ideal.  He  laid  a  min- 
imum of  stress  upon  rites  and  ordinances,  and  a 
maximum  of  stress  upon  moral  teaching.  He  disre- 
garded the  formal  and  merely  intellectual  aspects  of 
teaching,  and  strove  to  purify  and  energize  the  heart 
through  faith  and  love.  He  insisted  upon  personal 
faith,  personal  obedience,  and  personal  consecration. 
No  teaching  can  be  found  in  which  the  energy  of  the 
individual  soul  plays  a  more  important  part  than  in 
His  teaching;  properly  speaking,  it  plays  the  only 
part.  "Then  shall  two  be  in  the  field;  the  one  shall 
be  taken,  and  the  other  left.  Two  women  shall  be 
grinding  at  the  mill;  the  one  shall  be  taken,  and  the 
other  left."  *  The  idea  that  there  is,  or  that  there 
can  be,  a  family  religion,  or  a  national  religion,  in  any 
sense  that  does  not  involve  the  individuals  who  make 
up  the  family  or  the  nation,  has  no  place  in  The  New 
Testament.  More  than  this,  He  seeks  to  safeguard 
His  disciples  against  the  peculiar  weakness  of  the 
Mosaic  system.  He,  more  impressively  than  any 
other  teacher,  has  laid  His  finger  on  the  weak  spot  in 
all  religions, — their  tendency  to  formalism,  to  distor- 
tion of  moral  truth,  and  so  to  spiritual  death. 

We  need  not  deny  all  truth  and  virtue  to  the 
Rabbis,  but  the  principal  questions  that  occupied 
their  minds  were  the  rights  of  priests,  the  dignities  of 
teachers,  the  proprieties  of  the  synagogue,  the  width 
of  phylacteries,  the  forms  of  tradition,  the  rating  of 
tithables,  the  length  of  prayers,  and  the  ecclesiastical 

*  Matt.  xxiv.  40,  41. 


188  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

cases  that  arose  out  of  the  application  of  the  ancient 
law  and  the  ever-growing  commentary  to  the  events 
of  life.  But  this  was  not  the  worst.  The  energy 
that  a  man  can  give  to  religion  is  practically  a  fixed 
quantity,  at  least  at  any  given  time;  and  if  he  gives 
this  energy  to  minima  he  cannot  give  it  to  maxima. 
The  man  who  is  long  absorbed  in  little  things  loses 
the  power,  if  he  ever  had  it,  to  grasp  large  things; 
the  great  and  the  small  are  equalized  to  him;  they  ex- 
change places;  the  great  are  disregarded  or  forgotten. 
Such  are  some  of  the  distortions  that  follow.  A  man 
whose  mind  is  fixed  upon  the  weightier  matters  of 
the  law  may  attend  to  the  lighter,  but  the  converse 
proposition  is  negatived  both  by  experience  and  by 
the  laws  of  the  human  mind.  The  Jewish  Rabbis 
who  so  scrupulously  tithed  mint,  anise,  and  cummin, 
thereby  incapacitated  themselves  for  observing  jus- 
tice, mercy,  and  faith. 

Still  further,  the  exaggeration  of  the  little  involves 
practical  disregard,  as  well  as  theoretical  disregard, 
of  the  great.  That  is  a  sound  instinct  in  human  na- 
ture which  leads  us  to  suspect  serious  defects  of 
character  or  life  in  the  man  who  is  excessively  scru- 
pulous in  regard  to  minor  matters.  Experience  proves 
that  there  is  a  causal  relation  between  the  petty  tith- 
ings  of  the  moral  life  and  its  grave  obliquities,  and 
psychology  gives  us  the  reason.  Men  who  pay  tithes 
of  mint,  anise,  and  cummin  by  habit,  omit  the  weight- 
ier matters  of  the  law  by  habit.  He  who  makes  long 
and  ostentatious  prayers,  naturally  devours  the  wid- 
ow's house;  and  he  who  is  anxious  to  appear  out- 


HIS  RECOGNITION  OF  MORAL  PERSPECTIVE.     189 

wardly   righteous    before    men,  becomes    filled  with 
hypocrisy  and  iniquity. 

A  few  of  the  many  illustrations  that  Jewish  history 
furnishes  of  the  sad  consequences  which  flow  from 
defective  spiritual  perspective,  have  been  given 
above.  Equally  impressive,  and  more  numerous, 
illustrations  could  be  drawn  from  Christian  history. 
How  logical  conceptions  and  creeds  displaced  the 
primal  Christian  faith;  how  opinion  crowded  out  con- 
duct and  the  creed  life,  has  already  been  remarked 
upon.  These  changes  involved  enormous  loss  of  spir- 
itual power.  The  doctor  stood  to  the  new  develop- 
ment in  the  same  relation  that  the  rabbi  had  stood  to 
the  old  development.  As  the  rabbi  had  said  that  sal- 
vation depended  upon  the  attenuated  traditions  of 
the  elders,  so  the  doctor  said  that  it  depended  upon 
the  equally  attenuated  definitions  of  the  councils. 
The  rabbi  had  wholly  lost  sight  of  things  important 
in  his  absorption  in  things  unimportant;  so  the  doc- 
tor. The  rabbi  had  suffered  the  people  to  be  scat- 
tered as  sheep  having  no  shepherd,  while  he  tithed 
his  mint;  so  the  doctor.  The  rabbi  had  sometimes 
fallen  into  gross  wickedness  while  paltering  about 
jots  and  tittles;  so  the  doctor.  It  is  hard  to  say 
which  one  is  the  greater  offender;  but  before  we  con- 
clude that  it  is  the  rabbi,  we  should  at  least  remem- 
ber that  he  had  a  legal  and  ceremonial  system  to 
begin  with,  while  the  doctor  began  with  an  ethical 
system. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

HOW  HE   HANDLED  CASES. 

THE  teacher's  privilege  to  ask  questions  has  its  com- 
pensation in  the  duty  to  answer  questions.  It  is  a 
compensation  that  may  subject  him  to  the  severest 
strain  which  he  encounters.  A  weak  man,  or  even 
a  charletan,  may  for  a  time  maintain  himself  in 
monologue,  or  even  in  dialogue,  if  he  be  permitted 
to  ask  all  the  questions,  but  he  can  not  long  hold  his 
own  if  his  auditors  have  full  liberty  to  question  him 
and  to  criticise  his  replies.  The  ability  to  ask  ques- 
tions is  of  a  high  order.  The  skillful  question,  Bacon 
said,  is  the  half  of  knowledge  (prudens  quaestio  di- 
midium  scientice,)  and  the  other  half  is  the  ability  to 
answer  them.  The  two  are  not  necessarily  combined, 
but  in  combination  they  are  extremely  effective.  Wit- 
ness Socrates,  who  proved  himself  alike  formidable 
in  both  relations. 

The  questions  that  arise  in  morals  are  of  two  kinds, 
scientific  or  abstract,  ethical  or  practical.  To  an- 
swer the  first  calls  for  speculative  thought;  to  answer 
the  second,  for  practical  wisdom. 

Again,  the  same  question  may  be  answered  in  dif- 
ferent ways,  and  yet  be  rightly  answered.  First,  it 

may  be  answered  in  the  terms  or  within  the  limits  of 

(190) 


HOW  HE  HANDLED  CASES.  191 

the  question  itself,  without  any  statement  or  intima- 
tion of  reasons  why  the  answer  is  given.  This  is 
authority  to  the  one  who  seeks  guidance.  Such  an 
answer  has  only  an  immediate  present  value,  since  it 
applies  only  to  the  question  directly  in  hand  and  to 
those  that  are  like  it.  Here  the  answer  is  the  only 
thing.  Secondly,  a  reason  may  be  asigned,  but  only 
within  the  limits  of  the  question  at  issue.  Such  an- 
swers are  better  than  the  former  ones,  but  they  are 
still  narrow  and  unsatisfactory.  The  answer  is  now 
the  main  thing.  Thirdly,  the  answer  may  dispose  of 
the  pending  question,  and  of  all  similar  questions; 
nay,  more,  it  may  irradiate  the  whole  subject-matter 
to  which  it  relates,  the  whole  field  or  tract  of  conduct 
and  life,  with  light  and  truth.  Now  the  case  is  not  a 
single  one.  Furthermore,  the  question  is  lifted  out  of 
its  own  category  to  be  considered  in  the  light  of  prin- 
ciples, and  to  be  answered  with  reference  to  the 
broadest  relations.  The  particular  question  or  case  is 
lost  sight  of  in  whole  or  in  part.  It  is  remembered 
at  most  as  the  question  that  called  forth  the  utterance 
of  some  deep  thought,  some  broad  truth,  some  far- 
reaching  principle. 

Manifestly,  we  have  here  an  excellent  gauge  of  the 
mental  power  of  a  teacher.  The  first  class  of  an- 
swers mark  the  small  man,  who  answers  single  ques- 
tions without  reasons  in  their  own  narrow  terms. 
Those  of  the  second  class  mark  the  broader  man,  who 
gives  reasons,  but  reasons  that  are  limited  to  the  case 
or  the  class  of  cases.  While  the  third  class  marks 
those  luminous  intelligences  that  grasp  truth  in  its 
broadest  relations,  and  who  think  it  more  important 


192  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

to  set  forth  a  rule  or  principle  than  to  settle  the  case 
immediately  in  hand.  In  fact,  there  are  but  few  bet- 
ter measures  of  a  man  than  the  way  in  which  he  an- 
swers questions.  It  is  a  measure  that  we  are  now  to 
apply  to  Jesus. 

Ranking  as  a  Rabbi,  and  commanding,  as  He  did 
for  a  time,  the  deference  of  the  multitude — a  teacher 
of  authority — Jesus  was  naturally  resorted  to  by  those 
who  wished  Him  to  interfere  in  the  settlement  of 
practical  questions.  Such  a  case  we  have  in  Luke 
xii.  13-15.  "  And  one  of  the  company  said  unto  Him, 
Master,  speak  to  my  brother,  that  he  divide  the  inheri- 
tance with  me."  The  case  is  brought  before  us  in  its 
leading  features  in  an  instant.  A  man  had  died,  and 
a  controversy  had  followed  in  relation  to  the  distribu- 
tion of  his  property,  which  Jesus  was  thus  impor- 
tuned by  one  of  the  claimants  to  settle.  His  answer, 
"  Man,  who  made  me  a  judge  or  a  divider  over  you," 
is  an  affirmation  that  He  does  not  sit  as  an  adminis- 
trator on  dead  men's  estates,  or  as  a  judge  to  adjudi- 
cate the  rights  of  property.  While  His  mission 
will,  in  the  end,  reach  and  influence  such  cases,  it  is 
immediately  concerned  with  matters  of  far  greater 
importance.  But  He  improves  the  occasion  to  utter 
one  of  the  profoundest  truths.  "Take  heed,  and 
beware  of  covetousness:  for  a  man's  life  consist- 
eth  not  in  the  abundance  of  the  things  which  he 
possesseth."  The  man  of  small  mind  under  such 
circumstances  would  have  been  content  to  waive 
jurisdiction  of  the  case.  Jesus  found  an  opportunity, 
in  addition,  to  deliver  a  special  admonition  to  the 


HOW  HE  HANDLED  CASES.  193 

complainant,  and  to  assert  the  superiority  of  the 
spiritual  to  the  natural  life.  It  is  one  of  the  lessons 
of  the  Temptation  in  a  new  form.  "  Man  shall  not 
live  by  bread  alone,  but  by  every  word  that  proceed- 
eth  out  of  the  mouth  of  God." 

A  somewhat  similar  case  is  found  in  Matt.  xix.  16- 
22  and  in  Mark  x.  17,  "  And  behold,  one  came  and 
said  unto  him,"  (or,  as  the  parallel  passage  runs, 
"There  came  one  running,  and  kneeled  to  him," — 
such  was  his  apparent  eagerness),  "  Good  Master, 
what  good  thing  shall  I  do  that  I  may  have  eternal 
life?"  After  telling  the  man  that  God  is  the  only 
good  one,  Jesus  adds:  "  If  thou  wilt  enter  into  life, 
keep  the  commandments."  Asked  what  command- 
ments, He  particularizes:  "Thou  shalt  do  no  mur- 
der; Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery;  Thou  shalt  not 
steal ;  Thou  shalt  not  bear  false  witness ;  Honor  thy 
father  and  thy  mother;  and  Thou  shalt  love  thy 
neighbor  as  thyself."  The  young  man  said  unto  Him, 
"All  these  things  have  I  kept  from  my  youth  up; 
what  lack  I  yet?"  On  his  making  this  reply  Jesus, 
beholding  him,  loved  him.  And  yet  the  Master  per- 
ceived that  one  thing  the  young  man  lacked.  "  If 
thou  wilt  be  perfect,  go  and  sell  that  thou  hast  and 
give  to  the  poor,  and  thou  shalt  have  treasure  in 
heaven:  and  come  and  follow  me."  This  was  the 
experimenlum  crucis ;  when  the  young  man  heard 
it  "he  went  away  sorrowful,  for  he  had  great  pos- 
sessions." Jesus  had  revealed  the  questioner,  the 
seeker  after  guidance,  to  himself ;  with  all  his  cor- 
rectness of  formal  life,  he  still  loved  his  wealth. 

But  still  more,  Jesus  made  the  occasion  a  pulpit  for 
13 


194  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

another  of  his  far-reaching  thoughts:     "  A  rich  man 
shall  hardly  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven/' 

A  different  case  is  found  in  Matt.  xxii.  23-33.  Cer- 
tain Sadduccees,  who  denied  the  resurrection  of  the 
dead,  came  to  Him  with  a  question  by  which  they 
hoped  both  to  show  the  impossibility  of  the  resurrec- 
tion, and  to  confound  and  put  Him  to  silence.  They 
began  with  citing  Moses,  who  taught  that  if  a  man 
should  die,  leaving  no  children,  his  brother  should 
marry  his  widow,  and  raise  up  children  to  his  brother. 
"Now  there  were  with  us  seven  brethren,"  they  said: 
"  and  the  first,  when  he  had  married  a  wife,  deceased, 
and,  having  no  issue,  left  his  wife  unto  his  brother. 
Likewise  the  second  also,  and  the  third,  unto  the  sev- 
enth. And  last  of  all  the  woman  died  also.  Therefore 
in  the  resurrection  whose  wife  shall  she  be  of  the  seven, 
for  they  all  had  her."  A  more  ingenious  puzzle  than 
this  they  could  hardly  have  produced.  It  bears  evi- 
dence of  service  in  the  theological  controversies  of 
the  two  leading  Jewish  sects.  It  reminds  one  of  the 
ingenuity  of  the  logical  puzzles  of  the  Greek  schools, 
although  it  relates  to  very  different  subject-matter. 
With  one  masterful  stroke  Jesus  disposes  of  the 
question,  and  teaches  the  spirituality  of  the  other 
life.  "  Ye  do  err,  not  knowing  the  Scriptures,  nor 
the  power  of  God.  For  in  the  resurrection  they 
neither  marry,  nor  are  given  in  marriage,  but  are  as 
the  angels  of  God  in  heaven."  Nor  is  He  satisfied 
with  disposing  of  the  case,  and  asserting  this  great 
spiritual  truth,  and  thus  by  implication  telling  them 
that  they  are  wrong  in  their  dispute  with  the  Phari- 
sees. He  follows  up  His  advantage:  "  But  as  touch- 


HOW  HE  HANDLED  CASES.  195 

ing  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  have  ye  not  read 
that  which  was  spoken  unto  you  by  God,  saying,  1  am 
the  God  of  Abraham,  and  the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the 
God  of  Jacob?  God  is  not  the  God  of  the  dead,  but 
of  the  living."  Thus  the  futile  attempt  to  ensnare 
Him  in  a  puzzle  led  to  the  forcible  assertion  of  the 
spirituality  and  immortality  of  man.  Again  we  read  : 
"  And  when  the  multitude  heard  this,  they  were 
astonished  at  his  doctrine."  Also  that  "the  Sad- 
ducees  were  put  to  silence." 

Still  another  example  will  be  given.  The  conversa- 
tion held  at  Jacob's  well,  which  led  the  woman  of 
Samaria  to  the  discovery,  "Sir,  I  perceive  that  thou 
art  a  prophet,"  has  a  far  profounder  meaning  than  as 
an  illustration  of  the  developing  method.  There  was 
an  old  and  bitter  controversy  between  the  Jews  and 
the  Samaritans  as  to  the  relative  merits  and  claims  of 
Mt.  Moriah  and  Mt.  Gerizim.  Jerusalem  had  become 
the  capital  of  David.  On  the  Holy  Mountain  Solo- 
mon had  built  the  first  Temple,  and  on  the  same  sum- 
mit all  subsequent  temples  and  restorations  had  been 
made.  To  every  pious  Jew,  the  place  was  hallowed 
by  centuries  of  history  and  by  a  thousand  associations. 
The  royal  poet  had  but  voiced  the  national  inspiration 
when  he  sang: 

I  was  glad  when  they  said  unto  me , 

Let  us  go  unto  the  house  of  the  Lord. 

Our  feet  are  standing 

Within  thy  gates ,  O  Jerusalem ; 

Jerusalem ,  that  art  builded 

As  a  city  that  is  compact  together : 

Whither  the  tribes  go  up,  even  the  tribes  of  the  Lord, 

For  a  testimony  unto  Israel, 


196  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

To  give  thanks  unto  the  name  of  the  Lord. 

For  there  are  set  thrones  for  judgment, 

The  thrones  of  the  house  of  David . 

Pray  for  the  peace  of  Jerusalem : 

They  shall  prosper  that  love  thee. 

Peace  be  within  thy  walls, 

And  prosperity  within  thy  palaces. 

For  my  brethren  and  companions'  sakes, 

I  will  now  say,  Peace  be  within  thee. 

For  the  sake  of  the  house  of  the  Lord  our  God 

I  will  seek  thy  good. 

And  if  possible  the  flight  of  time  had  only  added 
to  the  intensity  of  feeling.  Never  were  men  more 
strongly  attached  to  a  shrine  than  the  Jews  were  to 
Mt.  Zion.  But  in  the  days  of  Nehemiah,  Sanballat 
had  built  a  rival  temple  on  Mt.  Gerizim,  and  there  or- 
ganized a  rival  priesthood  and  worship.  This  temple 
had  been  destroyed  two  hundred  years  before  the 
time  of  this  conversation;  but  the  Samaritans  still 
resorted  to  the  old  seat  of  piety  to  pray  and  to  sacri- 
fice, and  we  are  told  that  even  to-day  the  few  Samar- 
itans residing  in  Naplus,  the  ancient  Sychar,  call  Ger- 
izim a  holy  mountain,  and  turn  their  faces  to  it  in 
prayer.  With  the  place,  too,  is  associated  an  ancient 
form  of  the  Pentateuch.  The  Jews  regarded  the 
claims  of  the  Samaritans  in  behalf  of  Gerizim  as  pre- 
posterous and  even  impious.  They  looked  upon  its 
temple,  its  priesthood,  and  its  worship  as  a  profane 
mimicry  of  the  Temple,  the  priesthood,  and  the  wor- 
ship of  Jerusalem.  Hence  arose  a  dispute  which  was 
an  important  factor  in  the  refusal  of  the  Jews  to  have 
dealings  with  the  Samaritans.  But  on  two  cardinal 
points  the  Jews  and  the  Samaritans  agreed.  They 


HOW  HE  HANDLED  CASES.  197 

both  believed  that  religion  was  a  national  matter,  and 
both  looked  upon  worship  as  affected  by  locality.  To 
the  Jew,  Jehovah  was  the  God  of  the  Jews,  not  of  the 
Gentiles,  or  of  the  Samaritans.  To  the  Jew,  the  holi- 
est services  were  strictly  localized.  Solomon  had 
built  the  Lord  a  house.  Daniel  had  prayed  with  his 
face  toward  Jerusalem.  In  captivity  the  Jews  had 
sung: 

By  the  rivers  of  Babylon, 

There  we  sat  down,  yea,  we  wept, 

When  we  remembered  Zion. 

Upon  the  willows  in  the  midst  thereof 

We  hanged  up  our  harps. 

For  there  they  that  led  us  captive  required  of  us  songs , 

And  they  that  wasted  us  required  of  us  mirth,  saying, 

Sing  us  one  of  the  songs  of  Zion. 

How  shall  we  sing  the  Lord '  s  song 

In  a  strange  land? 

If  I  forget  thee,  O  Jerusalem, 

Let  my  right  hand  forget  her  cunning. 

Let  my  tongue  cleave  to  the  roof  of  my  mouth, 

If  I  remember  thee  not ; 

If  I  prefer  not  Jerusalem 

Above  my  chief  joy. 

Remember,  O  Lord,  against  the  children  of  Edom 

The  day  of  Jerusalem, 

Who  said,  Rase  it,  rase  it, 

Even  to  the  foundation  thereof. 

O  daughter  of  Babylon,  that  art  to  be  destroyed ; 

Happy  shall  he  be,  that  rewardeth  thee 

As  thou  hast  served  us. 

Happy  shall  he  be,  that  taketh  and  dasheth  thy  little  ones 

Against  the  rock. 

But  much  more  was  involved  in  the  matter  than 
sentiment.  The  Jewish  worship,  consisting  largely  of 
fleshly  ordinances,  could  be  conducted  only  in  a  house 


198  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

with  suitable  appointments  of  an  elaborate  descrip- 
tion. Moreover,  this  worship,  as  well  as  the  national 
faith  itself,  was  a  most  precious  national  inheritance. 
We  may  imagine,  therefore,  the  depth  of  feeling  with 
which  the  Jews  looked  upon  the  Samaritans'  challenge 
of  the  exclusiveness  of  Jerusalem. 

The  moment  the  woman  perceives  that  she  is  talk- 
ing with  a  prophet,  she  suggests  rather  than  asks, 
the  old  question.  She  says:  "  Our  fathers  worshiped 
in  this  mountain;  and  ye  [that  is  the  Jews]  say  that  in 
Jerusalem  is  the  place  where  men  ought  to  worship." 
He  does  not  answer  her  question  directly,  and  yet  He 
far  more  than  answers  it.  Jesus  saith  unto  her: 

"Woman,  believe  me.  The  hour  cometh,  when 
ye  shall  neither  in  this  mountain,  nor  yet  at  Jeru- 
salem, worship  the  Father.  Ye  worship  ye  know 
not  what:  we  know  what  we  worship;  for  salvation 
is  of  the  Jews.  But  the  hour  cometh  and  now  is, 
when  the  true  worshipers  shall  worship  the  Father 
in  spirit  and  in  truth ;  for  the  Father  seeketh  such  to 
worship  Him.  God  is  spirit:  and  the}'  that  worship 
Him  must  worship  Him  in  spirit  and  in  truth." 

It  is  very  certain  that  the  woman  did  not  see  far 
into  this  reply;  indeed,  she  may  not  have  thought 
that  she  had  been  answered  at  all;  and  it  is  impossi- 
ble that  all  disciples  of  Jesus  living  to-day  understand 
its  full  import.  We  shall  first  glance  at  some  of  the 
things  that  the  answer  does  not  mean. 

First,  Jesus  does  not  mean  that  the  time  should 
come  when  this  particular  woman  should  worship  in 
neither  of  these  seats  of  ancient  piety.  Neither,  sec- 
ondly, does  He  mean  that  in  the  future  her  country- 


HOW  HE  HANDLED  CASES.  199 

men,  the  Samaritans,  should  not  worship  in  these 
places.  Nor,  thirdly,  does  He  assert  that  Jerusalem 
and  Gerizim  shall  be  deserted;  and  still  less,  that  they 
should  become  impossible  or  unfit  places  for  worship. 
He  makes  no  allusion  to  the  woman  or  to  the  Samari- 
tans. He  lays  no  interdict  on  either  of  the  old  tem- 
ples. To  put  any  one  of  these  meanings  into  His 
mouth,  would  be  to  lose  His  thought,  to  misunder- 
stand the  nature  of  the  dispensation  that  the  hour  is 
ushering  in,  and  to  fall  below  the  level  of  the  occa- 
sion. 

He  means,  rather,  that  the  question  about  Gerizim 
and  Moriah  has  lost  its  interest,  because  these  places 
have  been  equalized,  one  with  the  other,  and  with  all 
other  places;  that  Jewish  exclusiveness  is  at  an  end; 
that  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem  ceases  to  be  more  holy 
than  any  other  place ;  that  the  days  of  localized  wor- 
ship and  of  fleshly  ordinances  are  gone,  and  that  a 
genuinely  spiritual  worship  is  at  hand.  More  than 
this  even,  He  means  that  the  old  ethnic  religions  and 
national  faiths  shall  now  make  room  for  the  one  true 
religion  and  faith  that  is  as  broad  and  free  as  the  soul 
of  man.  The  dispensation  of  the  letter  gives  way  to 
the  dispensation  of  the  Spirit.  Moses  makes  room 
for  Christ.  An  end  is  put  to  all  constraint  and  com- 
pulsion. God  is  spirit,  and  they  that  worship  Him 
must  worship  Him  in  spirit  and  in  truth.  Accord- 
ingly, since  that  day  any  spot  in  the  wide  world — the 
depths  of  the  mine,  the  heart  of  the  forest,  the  top  of 
the  mountain,  the  seclusion  of  the  closet,  the  privacy 
of  the  fireside,  and  the  bosom  of  the  sea — is  as  accept- 
able a  place  of  worship  as  the  grandest  church  or  the 


200  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

most  glorious  temple.  Everything  depends  upon  the 
instructed  mind  and  the  earnest  heart.  The  act  con- 
secrates the  place,  not  the  place  the  act.  The  wom- 
an's question  was  answered;  but  it  was  answered  by 
being  taken  up  into  the  most  elevated  and  compre- 
hensive principle  that  marks  the  kingdom  of  God. 

Many  other  examples  could  be  given.  These,  how- 
ever, suffice  to  show  the  consummate  ability  that 
Jesus  manifested  in  dealing  with  men  and  in  putting 
controversialists  to  silence;  and  also  how  He  lifted 
questions  and  cases  up  to  the  level  of  great  princi- 
ples, and  made  them  occasions  for  the  impressive  and 
telling  assertion  of  central  religious  truths. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

HIS    SEVERITY. 

FALSE  ideas  of  the  character  of  Jesus,  both  as  a 
person  and  as  a  teacher,  are  not  uncommon.  They 
arise  by  excluding  from  view  certain  elements  or  fac- 
tors that  belong  to  Him.  Furthermore,  the  elements 
that  are  thus  excluded  are  generally  of  the  same  class. 
His  common  mode  of  address  is  so  winning;  His 
benedictions  fall  so  delightfully  upon  the  ear;  He  is 
so  tender  in  His  invitations;  so  interested  in  the  mul- 
titude; so  full  of  compassion  for  the  poor  and  ignor- 
ant; so  patient  with  the  dull  and  slow-minded;  so 
anxious  to  bring  back  to  the  right  way  those  who  have 
strayed  from  it;  He  is  so  kind  and  gracious, — that  we 
sometimes  forget  that  He  also  turned  to  the  world 
another  and  very  different  side,  or,  if  we  do  not  for- 
get the  fact,  we  underestimate  its  importance. 

There  are  two  classes  of  moral  qualities,  which  may 
be  generally  described  as  the  harder  and  the  softer,  the 
more  rugged  and  the  more  gentle,  the  stronger  and 
the  more  gracious.  Under  the  one  category  we  bring 
courage,  truth,  justice,  and  righteousness;  under  the 
other,  compassion,  purity,  tenderness,  and  innocence. 
The  first  give  character  its  firmness  and  permanence; 

the  second,  its  grace  and  loveliness.     It  would  be  too 

(201) 


202  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

much  to  say  that  the  qualities  put  in  the  two  classes 
are  opposed  each  to  each.  There  is  no  opposition, 
for  example,  between  strength  and  purity,  but  rather 
the  reverse.  Sir  Galahad's  strength  is  as  the  strength 
of  ten  because  his  heart  is  pure.  At  the  same  time 
the  two  groups  of  qualities  do  present  an  antinomy 
more  or  less  complete. 

There  are  justice  and  compassion.  Justice  demands 
that  men  shall  fulfill  the  law;  Compassion  condones 
the  offences  of  those  who  do  not.  Justice  shuts  her 
eyes  and  holds  aloft  her  symbolic  scales;  Compassion 
weeps  at  the  misery  and  suffering  which  she  sees 
around  her.  Justice  lays  judgment  to  the  line  and 
righteousness  to  the  plummet;  Compassion  has  neith- 
er line  nor  plummet,  and  knows  not  their  use.  Jus- 
tice sometimes  sends  men  to  prison;  Compassion 
opens  prison  doors  and  bids  prisoners  go  free.  Jus- 
tice often  condemns ;  Compassion  always  pities.  In 
an  absolute  sense  the  two  qualities  cannot  be  harmon- 
ized, and  in  practice  one  must  often  give  way  to  the 
other. 

The  man  who  is  merely  just  may  command  our  re- 
spect and  admiration,  but  he  never  calls  out  our  af- 
fections and  sympathies.  He  dwells  in  a  region  too 
cold  for  those  flowers  to  bloom.  The  man  who  is 
merely  compassionate  may  draw  out  our  affections 
and  sympathies,  but  he  will  not  command  our  full  re- 
spect and  admiration.  He  dwells  in  an  atmosphere 
too  warm  for  the  hardier  plants  to  grow. 

The  harm  that  has  been  done  by  men  of  these  op- 
posite types  is  very  great.  Those  of  the  first  type 
sometimes  discourage  and  crush  human  beings,  be- 


HIS  SEVERITY.  203 

cause  they  will  permit  no  relaxation  of  the  law;  the 
others  encourage  men  to  grow  up  weak  and  dependent, 
because  they  refuse  to  permit  them  to  come  into  rela- 
tion with  the  law.  The  first  say  the  discipline  of 
life  comes  through  our  learning  that  we  must  reap 
what  we  sow,  and  that  the  only  way  to  learn  this  in- 
valuable lesson  is  to  reap  our  own  harvests;  and  that, 
therefore,  it  is  a  great  mistake  to  intervene  between 
the  sufferer  and  the  consequences  of  his  own  foolish 
or  inconsiderate  act.  The  second  say  that  experience 
is  a  dear  school,  that  her  discipline  is  hard  to  bear, 
and  that  the  law  should  not  be  allowed  to  do  her 
strange  work.  The  conflicts  of  the  two  principles 
make  up  no  small  part  of  the  moral  life  of  the  world. 
The  prophet  prayed,  "In  wrath  remember  mercy." 
In  The  New  Testament  we  read  of  the  acceptable  will 
of  the  Lord ;  also  of  the  day  of  vengeance  of  our  God. 
But  the  Psalmist  wrote  of  a  delightful  state  or  period 
in  which  mercy  and  peace  should  meet  together,  and 
righteousness  and  peace  kiss  each  other;  *  and  we  are 
led  to  seek  for  the  common  ground  on  which  this 
reconciliation  is  effected.  The  answer  to  this  ques- 
tion is,  benevolence  or  love.  Benevolence  does  not 
ask  primarily  what  is  just  or  what  is  merciful,  but 
what  is  best,  what  will  promote  good  or  well-being. 
She  wishes  men  well,  and  seeks  to  realize  her  wish. 
Justice  declares  that  a  man  now  lying  in  prison  shall 
remain  there, because  this  would  be  just ;  Mercy  says  he 
should  be  released,  because  this  would  be  merciful ; 
Love  says  that  should  be  done  which,  taking  all  facts 
into  account,  will  be  for  the  best,  because  we  should 
be  benevolent. 

*  Psalms  Ixxxv.  10. 


204  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

The  sterner  and  the  milder  traits  meet  and  blend 
in  the  perfect  character.  The  man  who  realizes  the 
ideal  is  both  just  and  compassionate;  neither  word, 
however,  sums  up  his  character;  love  alone  does  that. 
But  even  this  word  is  unfortunately  abused;  it  is 
sometimes  understood  in  the  sense  of  mercy;  where- 
as, it  looks  only  to  the  true  end  or  good  of  men. 

These  observations  bring  us  to  a  class  of  passages 
in  the  life  of  Jesus  that  offer  a  striking  contrast  to 
the  Beatitudes,  and  to  the  invitations  addressed  to  the 
weary  and  heavy-laden.  Such  a  passage  is  that  re- 
counting how  Jesus  found  in  the  Temple  those  that 
sold  oxen,  sheep,  and  doves,  and  money-changers;  and 
how,  first  making  a  scourge  of  cords,  He  drove  them 
all  out  together — men,  sheep,  and  oxen — poured  out 
the  changers'  money,  and  overthrew  their  tables,  pro- 
testing that  His  father's  house  should  not  be  made  a 
house  of  merchandise.  *  Here  we  see  His  moral  in- 
dignation rising  to  a  white  heat.  Still  we  miss  much 
of  the  effect  if  we  forget  that  the  Jesus  who  wields 
the  terrible  scourge  is  the  same  Jesus  who  teaches 
His  disciples  the  Lord's  prayer,  and  looks  upon  the 
multitude  with  tenderest  compassion. 

Another  such  passage  is  the  address  that  Jesus 
poured  out  of  his  burning  heart  upon  the  Scribes  and 
Pharisees,  following  their  final  discomfiture  in  argu- 
ment, as  related  in  the  twenty-third  chapter  of  Mat- 
thew. Canon  Farrar  justly  calls  it  "The  Great  De- 
nunciation;" and  we  shall  not  find  its  equal  else- 
where in  literature.  Beginning  with  the  declaration, 
"  The  Scribes  and  the  Pharisees  sit  in^Moses's  seat," 

*  John  II.  13-17. 


HIS  SEVERITY.  205 

he  rushes  on  through  a  series  of  woes,  the  most  ter- 
rific that  were  ever  pronounced  upon  men.  They  do 
all  their  works  to  be  seen  of  men ;  they  shut  up  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  neither  entering  themselves  nor 
suffering  others  to  enter;  they  devour  widows'  houses, 
and  for  a  pretense  make  long  prayers ;  they  compass 
sea  and  land  to  make  one  proselyte,  who,  when  he  is 
made,  is  tenfold  worse  than  themselves;  they  are 
blind  guides,  misleading  the  people  with  respect  to 
oaths;  they  pay  tithes  of  mint,  anise,  and  cummin, 
and  neglect  the  weightier  matters  of  the  law, — justice, 
mercy,  and  faith;  they  make  clean  the  outside  of  the 
cup  and  platter,  but  are  full  of  extortion  and  excess ; 
they  are  whitewashed  sepulchres,  which  are  clean 
without,  but  within  are  full  of  dead  men's  bones  and 
of  uncleanuess ;  they  build  the  tombs  of  the  proph- 
ets, garnish  the  sepulchers  of  the  righteous,  and  yet 
testify  that  they  are  the  children  of  them  which 
killed  the  prophets, — thus  He  pours  over  them  the 
torrents  of  this  terrific  denunciation  until,  as  if  to  re- 
mind us  that  He  is  still  the  same  Jesus  who  spoke  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  and  the  parables,  He  closes 
with  the  lament:  "O,  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  thou 
that  killest  the  prophets,  and  stonest  them  that  are 
sent  unto  thee,  how  often  would  I  have  gathered  thy 
children  together,  even  as  a  hen  gathereth  her  chick- 
ens under  her  wings,  and  ye  would  not."  * 

These  passages  suggest  reflections  that  are  practi- 
cally instructive. 

1.  We  should  not  fail  to  observe  the  conditions 
under  which  Jesus  turned  His  severe  side  towards 

*  Matt,  xxiii.  13-39. 


206  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

men.  It  was  not  when  He  was  addressing  the  poor, 
the  ignorant,  and  the  weak,  but  when  He  dealt  with 
the  wicked,  the  rich,  and  the  strong. 

In  the  first  instance,  the  sellers  of  sheep,  oxen,  and 
doves,  and  the  money  changers,  choked  up  that  part 
of  the  Temple  precincts  called  the  Court  of  the  Gen- 
tiles; the  abuse  was  an  inveterate  one,  carried  on 
with  the  knowledge,  and  even  in  the  interest,  of  men 
in  high  ecclesiastical  position;  the  house  of  prayer 
was  made  a  den  of  thieves,  which  conduct  in  a  Jew 
was  more  profane  than  it  was  for  a  Pagan  soldier  to 
sprinkle  the  sanctuary  with  swine's  broth.  The  very 
Temple  was  filled  with  the  tumult  and  stench.  Such 
sacrilege  could  be  corrected  only  by  resorting  to  severe 
measures;  and  how  perfectly  reasonable  and  proper 
Jesus's  action  was,  is  attested  by  the  fact  that  the 
men  whom  He  expelled  offered  no  resistance,  and 
that  there  was  no  intervention  in  their  behalf.  There 
could  be  no  better  examples  of  the  cowardice  that 
flows  from  an  evil  conscience,  and  of  the  strength  of 
indignant  virtue. 

In  the  other  case  there  was  no  reason  to  suppose 
that  gracious  words  would  ever  make  any  impression 
upon  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees.  Stern  words  might. 
At  least  Jesus  owed  it  to  His  disciples,  and  to  the 
multitude,  to  expose  the  hollowness  and  corruption 
of  these  men;  for  "they  shut  up  the  door  of  the 
kingdom  of  God,  neither  entering  in  themselves  nor 
suffering  others  to  enter."  Canon  Farrar  has  well 
caught  the  spirit  of  the  occasion. 

And  they  loved  their  blindness;  they  would  not  acknowl- 
edge their  ignorance ;  they  did  not  repent  them  of  their  faults  ; 
the  bitter  venom  of  their  hatred  to  Him  was  not  driven  forth 


HIS  SEVERITY.  207 

by  His  forbearance  ;  the  dense  midnight  of  their  perversity  was 
not  dispelled  by  His  wisdom.  Their  purpose  to  destroy  Him  was 
fixed,  obstinate,  'irreversible;  and  if  one  plot  failed,  they  were 
but  driven  with  more  stubborn  sullenness  into  another.  And, 
therefore,  since  Love  had  played  her  part  in  vain,  "Justice 
leaped  upon  the  stage ; ' '  since  the  Light  of  the  World  shone  for 
them  with  no  illumination,  the  lightning  flash  should  at  last 
warn  them  of  their  danger.  There  could  now  be  no  hope  of 
their  becoming  reconciled  to  Him ;  they  were  but  being  stereo- 
typed in  unrepentant  malice  against  Him.  Turning,  therefore, 
to  His  disciples ,  but  in  the  audience  of  all  the  people ,  He  rolled 
over  their  guilty  heads ,  with  crash  upon  crash  of  moral  anger, 
the  thunder  of  His  utter  condemnation.  * 

2.  These  passages  appear  to  make  small  impression 
on  some  persons'  minds.  Their  thoughts  and  feelings 
run  so  habitually  in  the  other  channel,  and  they  are 
so  much  more  fully  in  sympathy  with  the  gentle  side 
of  Jesus's  character,  that  they  flinch  when  they  see 
Him  wielding  His  knotted  scourge,  and  turn  aside 
when  He  pours  out  the  torrent  of  His  hot  denunci- 
ation. While  these  persons  would  regard  the  propo- 
sition to  cut  these  passages  out  of  the  Gospels  as  sacri- 
lege, they  would  never  have  missed  them  had  they 
originally  been  omitted.  We  need  not  go  over  the 
ethical  argument  again,  to  show  that  the  ruggeder 
moral  qualities  are  as  important  as  the  softer  ones, 
and  that  they  are  never  wanting  in  the  highest  char- 
acters; but  we  may  inquire  why  they  are  so  often 
undervalued. 

We  have  to  go  back  only  a  little  way  in  the  history 
of  society  to  find  a  time  when  the  severer  moral  traits 
appear  to  have  reigned  almost  supreme.  Justice,  or 
what  was  called  such,  was  administered  with  merciless 

*  Vol.  II.,  page  244. 


208  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

rigor.  The  roll  of  capital  crimes  was  a  long  one,  and 
prisons  were  little  better  than  the  dens  of  wild  beasts. 
Charity  was  but  feebly  organized.  The  unfortunate, 
the  weak,  the  ignorant,  and  the  poor  were  almost 
abandoned  to  make  the  hard  struggle  for  exist- 
ence alone.  The  regimen  to  which  children  were 
subjected  was  so  stern  that  heavy  tasks,  cruel  teach- 
ers, frequent  beatings,  and  much  misery,  are  things 
indissolubly  associated  with  the  school.  Current  re- 
ligious and  moral  teaching  dwelt  on  the  harsher  side 
of  moral  and  religious  truth. 

We  often  fail  to  appreciate  the  enormous  social 
changes  or  ameliorations  that  have  taken  place  within 
recent  years.  For  example,  I  cut  the  following  from 
a  review  of  a  book  that  has  but  recently  appeared : 

Everybody  has  heard  of  Rowland  Hill  who,  in  1840,  achieved 
his  daring  idea  of  penny  postage.  A  life  of  him  has  been  writ- 
ten by  his  nephew,  Dr.  Birkbeck  Hill,  the  editor  par  excellence 
of  Boswell.  His  oldest  brother  was  Matthew  Davenport  Hill, 
whose  life  has  also  been  written;  his  youngest  brother  (save 
one  who  died  early)  was  Frederic,  the  subject  of  the  present 
memoir,  and  now  the  sole  survivor  of  five  very  remarkable 
men,  Edwin  and  Arthur  being  the  other  two  brothers.  Mr. 
Frederic  Hill  is  now  in  his  ninety -first  year.  We  realize  his 
age  when  we  read  that  he  well  remembers  his  great -uncle, 
John  Hill,  who  enrolled  himself  as  a  volunteer  against  the  Pre- 
tender in  1745,  and  that  he  himself  has  shared  in  two  royal 
jubilees— that  of  George  III.  in  1810,  and  that  of  Queen  Vic- 
toria in  1887.  He  remembers  also  his  maternal  grandfather, 
William  Lea,  who  rescued  a  reputed  witch  from  a  moat  into 
which  she  had  been  flung  by  a  mob ;  and  he  was  a  boy  of  four- 
teen when  a  murder  was  committed  in  Birmingham  for  which 
impunity  was  secured  by  the  murderer's  appealing  to  the  wager 
of  battle  before  Lord  Ellenborough  and  the  full  Court  of 
Queen's  Bench.  He  saw  the  pillory  in  use,  he  had  a  hand  in 
abolishing  the  treadmill  in  prisons ,  and  that  not  so  very  long 


HIS  SEVERITY.  209 

ago.  He  tells  of  one  of  his  acquaintances  '  'who  was  subject  to 
occasional  fits  of  insanity.  When  these  occurred  he  was  taken 
to  the  lunatic  asylum  of  his  district,  and  there  bound  to  a  seat 
on  a  pivot,  which  was  whirled  round  and  round  till  he  became 
insensible."  "Within  my  lifetime,"  he  reminds  us,  "men 
were  hanged  for  stealing  five  shillings'  worth  of  goods. ' '  Born 
in  the  midst  of  the  Napoleonic  wars,  '  'Boney' '  was  a  terror  to 
him,  and  not  less  the  press-gang,  which  caused  the  boy  to  run 
at  night  through  the  streets  of  Birmingham,  though  in  no  dan- 
ger on  account  of  his  youth.  * 

But  some  time  ago  society  took  a  new  trend.  The 
humane  sentiment  and  feeling — the  affectional  nature 
of  men — has  been  developed  as  never  before.  A  new 
moral  type  has  appeared;  or,  if  not  so,  it  is  much  more 
admired  and  imitated.  What  a  distinguished  writer 
once  called  "the  enthusiasm  of  humanity"  has 
wrought  a  transformation  in  society  that  we  count 
among  the  marvels  of  the  age. 

That  the  new  spirit  was  greatly  needed,  I  need  not 
take  space  to  show.  The  evidence  is  spread  thickly 
upon  the  pages  of  every  book  that  deals  adequately 
with  the  facts  of  social  history  in  the  olden  time. 
There  is  far  more  need  to  inquire  whether,  in  recoil- 
ing from  the  one  scheme,  we  are  not  going  too  near 
the  other.  The  question  is  not  whether  there  is  too 
much  benevolence  or  love,  but  whether  mercy  has 
not  appropriated  that  blessed  name.  Is  it  true, 
as  we  are  sometimes  told,  that  crime  is  only  a 
disease  to  be  cured  and  not  punished?  Or  that 
men  differ  only  in  inherited  qualities,  and  in  an  envi- 
ronment over  which  they  have  no  control?  Is  it  not 
true  that  what  is  called  charity  is  too  indiscriminately 

*  The  Nation,  Vol.  LVIII. ,  page  140. 
14 


210  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

bestowed,  and  that  we  tend  to  forget  the  command 
that  if  anyone  will  not  work  neither  shall  he  eat? 
Does  not  much  of  the  so-called  benevolence  of  the 
time  tend  to  obliterate  differences  that  God  recog- 
nizes among  men?  Does  it  not  tend  to  a  practical 
denial  of  the  law  that  whatsoever  a  man  sows,  that 
shall  he  also  reap?  Does  not  the  current  Gospel  of 
Environment  tend  to  blunt  the  sense  of  responsibility, 
and  to  fill  those  who  accept  it  with  a  sense  of  self- 
complacency? 

If  anyone  doubts  what  should  De  the  answers  to 
these  questions,  he  should  ask  himself  the  meaning  of 
much  current  sentimentalism.  Why  is  so  much  con- 
sideration shown  to  criminals?  Why  is  it  often  so 
hard  to  secure  the  conviction  of  brutal  murderers? 
And  why  is  it  so  easy  for  them  to  secure  respite  from 
deserved  punishment?  Why  do  tender  ladies  send 
flowers  and  dainty  food  to  their  prison  cells?  Why 
do  defaulters  and  bankrupts  often  receive  sympathy 
that  rather  belongs  to  their  victims?  Why  is  dishon- 
esty so  often  condoned,  especially  if  the  man  who  is 
guilty  of  it  has  a  reputation  for  liberality?  Why,  at 
last,  has  family  discipline  become  so  relaxed  that  in 
many  cases  the  likes  and  dislikes  of  children  are 
practically  the  only  law?  It  cannot  be  doubted  by 
those  competent  to  deliver  judgment,  that  the  stern 
passages  in  the  life  and  teaching  of  Jesus  would 
prove  a  helpful  tonic  if  they  could  be  more  read  and 
more  pondered.  They  would  lead  men  to  see  that 
somewhat  of  our  current  benevolence  is  born  of  sen- 
timentality. That  is  a  weak  and  flaccid  morality 
which  omits  or  undervalues  the  stern  and  rugged  vir- 
tues. 


HIS  SEVERITY.  211 

3.  How  far  a  teacher  may  now  go  in  imitation  of 
these  sterner  passages  in  the  life  of  Jesus,  is  a  ques- 
tion that  admits  of  no  definite  answer.  Much  depends 
upon  time  and  place,  mental  and  moral  conditions, 
and  particularly  the  character  and  standard  of  the 
teacher  himself.  What  will  do  good  at  one  time  and 
place,  will  do  harm  at  another.  What  will  do  some 
men  good,  will  do  others  harm.  Words  that  would 
be  received  as  merited  rebukes  coming  from  one  man, 
would  provoke  only  derision  and  contempt  coming 
from  another  man.  Weak  men  cannot  take  the  high 
hand  that  Nathan  took  with  David,  Ambrose  with 
Theodosius,  and  John  Knox  with  Mary  Queen  of 
Scots.  None  but  those  like  Jesus  have  credentials  to 
cleanse  the  Temple;  and  as  for  the  woes  of  the  Great 
Denunciation,  they  would  be  profane  upon  lips  less 
pure  and  holy  than  His  own.  It  is  not  mere  senti- 
ment to  say  with  Shakespeare : 

What  stronger  breastplate  than  a  heart  untainted  1 
Thrice  is  he  armed  that  hath  his  quarrel  just, 
And  he  but  naked,  though  locked  up  in  steel, 
Whose  conscience  with  injustice  is  corrupted. 

Or  with  Tennyson : 

My  good  blade  carves  the  casques  of  men, 

My  tough  lance  thrusteth  sure, 
My  strength  is  as  the  strength  of  ten, 

Because  my  heart  is  pure. 

But  this  strength  inheres  in  men,  and  not  in  ab- 
stractions. However,  there  is  one  rule  of  universal 
application.  No  teacher  of  morals  or  religion  should 
palter  with  men  in  a  double  sense.  No  office  is  more 
contemptible  than  that  of  a  seer  who  sees  not,  or  of  a 

UNIVERSITY 


212  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

prophet  who  prophesies  not  unto  the  people  right 
things,  but  speaks  unto  them  smooth  things,  and 
prophesies  deceits.  More  than  this,  there  are  times 
when  we  ^may  well  listen  to  Milton's  grand  thunder- 
roll. 

For  in  times  of  opposition,  when  either  against  new  heresies 
arising,  or  old  corruptions  to  be  reformed, this  cool,unpassionate 
mildness  of  positive  wisdom  is  not  enough  to  damp  and  astonish 
the  proud  resistance  of  carnal  and  false  doctors,  then  (that  I  may 
have  leave  to  soar  awhile,  as  we  poets  use)  Zeal,  whose  sub- 
stance is  ethereal,  arming  in  complete  diamond,  ascends  his 
fiery  chariot ,  drawn  with  two  blazing  meteors ,  figured  like  beasts , 
but  of  a  higher  breed  than  any  the  zodiac  yields,  resembling  two 
of  those  four  which  Ezekiel  and  St.  John  saw  ;  the  one  visaged  like 
a  lion,  to  express  power,  high  .authority,  and  indignation;  the 
other  of  countenance  like  a  man,  to  cast  derision  and  scorn  upon 
perverse  and  fraudulent  seducers :  with  these  the  invincible  war- 
rior, Zeal,  shaking  loosely  the  slack  reins,  drives  over  the  heads 
of  scarlet  prelates  and  such  as  are  insolent  to  maintain  tradi- 
tions, bruising  their  stiff  necks  under  his  flaming  wheels.  Thus 
did  the  true  prophets  of  old  combat  with  the  false ;  thus  Christ 
Himself,  the  fountain  of  meekness,  found  acrimony  enough  to  be 
still  galling  and  vexing  the  prelatical  Pharisees.  But  ye  will 
say,  these  had  immediate  warrant  from  God  to  be  thus  bitter; 
and  I  say,  so  much  the  plainer  is  it  proved  that  there  may  be  a 
sanctified  bitterness  against  the  enemies  of  the  truth.* 

*  Apology  for  Smectymnuus. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

JESUS  AND  THE  CHILD. 

THE  author  of  a  suggestive  and  pleasant  volume 
that  has  recently  appeared  from  the  press  introduces 
his  theme  as  follows : 

There  was  a  time,  just  beyond  the  memory  of  men  now  living, 
when  the  Child  was  born  in  literature.  At  the  same  period 
books  for  children  began  to  be  written.  There  were  children, 
indeed,  in  literature  before  Wordsworth  created  Alice  Fell  and 
Lucy  Gray,  or  breathed  the  lines  beginning, 

' '  She  was  a  phantom  of  delight, ' ' 

and  there  were  books  for  the  young  before  Mr.  Day  wrote  Sand- 
ford  and  Merton  ;  especially  it  is  to  be  noted  that  Goldsmith,  who 
was  an  avant- courier  of  Wordsworth,  had  a  very  delightful  per- 
ception of  the  child,  and  amused  himself  with  him  in  the  Vicar 
of  Wakefield,  while  he,  or  his  double,  entertained  his  little 
friends  in  real  life  with  the  Renowned  History  of  Goody  Two  | 
Shoes. 

Nevertheless,  there  has  been,  since  the  day  of  Wordsworth, 
such  a  succession  of  childish  figures  in  prose  and  verse  that  we 
are  justified  in  believing  childhood  to  have  been  discovered  at 
the  close  of  the  last  century.  The  child  has  now  become  so 
common  that  we  scarcely  consider  how  absent  he  is  from  the 
earlier  literature.  Men  and  women  are  there ,  lovers,  maidens, 
and  youths,  but  these  are  all  with  us  still.  The  child  has  been 
added  to  the  dramatis  personse  of  modern  literature.  * 

"Childhood  in  Art  and  Literature,  with  some  Observations  on  Literature  for 
Children.  A  Study.  By  Horace  E.  Scudder. 

(213) 


214  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

The  central  thought  here  presented  is  little  likely  to 
be  disputed  by  men  of  competent  knowledge.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  either  that  the  child  is  more  promi- 
nent in  literature  now  than  formerly,  or  that  he  appears 
in  a  different  manner  and  is  differently  regarded.  Nor 
is  the  immediate  reason  hard  to  explain.  It  is  the 
new  sense  of  childhood  that  has  been  developed  in  the 
last  one  hundred  years.  The  child  has  been  added  to 
the  dramatis  personoe  of  modern  literature,  because  he 
has  been  added  to  modern  life.  Children  have  indeed 
always  been  in  the  world.  They  have  also  always 
been  objects  of  interest  and  affection.  Ancient  times 
can  show  cases  of  parental  solicitude  for  children,  as 
the  yearning  of  the  heart  for  the  erring  or  the  dead 
child,  that  modern  times  cannot  surpass.  Excellent 
examples  are  found  in  The  Bible.  How  David  loved 
the  child  of  Bathsheba !  How  he  mourned  for  Ab- 
solom !  Still,  it  is  a  fact  that  the  child  now  holds  a 
place  in  the  thoughts,  feelings,  and  activities  of  men 
that  he  did  not  hold  in  ancient  or  mediaeval  times,  or 
even  in  modern  times  until  a  recent  date.  The  view 
of  childhood,  and  in  consequence  of  child-discipline, 
has  been  greatly  changed. 

In  antiquity  the  father  often  had  the  power  of  life 
and  death  over  his  child.  The  Roman  father's  child 
was  a  part  of  his  property,  and  could  be  sold  to  satisfy 
his  debts.  The  munificent  provision  now  made  for 
the  health,  comfort,  and  pleasure  of  children,  and 
their  improvement — the  games  and  amusements,  the 
books  and  papers,  the  pictures  and  toys — relatively  is 
a  thing  of  modern  times.  It  will,  perhaps,  be  said 
that  similar  additions  have  been  made  to  the  scale  of 


JESUS  AND  THE  CHILD.  215 

adult  comforts  and  pleasures;  that  these  things  are 
due  to  the  vast  progress  that  has  been  made  in  wealth 
and  invention ;  but  these  obvious  considerations  do  not 
fully  explain  the  matter.  When  all  is  said  and  done, 
the  advantage  is  still  with  the  child  as  against  the 
man.  Or,  if  there  can  be  any  doubt  as  to  the  home, 
we  may  compare  the  modern  school  with  the  ancient 
or  mediaeval  one.  What  labor  is  given  to  the  study  of 
child  nature !  With  what  zeal  are  its  stages  of  growth 
marked  out !  And  with  what  care  are  studies  chosen 
and  courses  of  study  organized  with  reference  to  this 
nature  and  these  stages  of  growth !  Observe,  too,  the 
books,  the  apparatus  for  illustrative  teaching,  the  ma- 
terial appointments  of  the  school,  the  libraries, 
museums,  laboratories,  the  methods  of  teaching  and 
governing,  and  above  all  the  pains  that  are  taken  in  the 
selection  of  teachers.  No  doubt  under  this  last  head 
much  is  yet  to  be  desired;  but  we  have  certainly  made 
great  progress  as  compared  with  earlier  times.  It 
would  not  do  to  say  that  antiquity  was  indifferent  to 
the  character  of  the  teacher;  still,  Plutarch  tells  us 
that  men  of  his  time,  when  they  took  account  of  their 
slaves,  finding  some  better  and  some  worse,  sent  some 
to  husbandry,  some  to  navigation,  some  to  merchan- 
dise, some  to  be  stewards  in  their  own  houses,  and 
some,  lastly,  to  put  out  their  money  to  usury  for  them ; 
while  if  they  found  any  slave  that  was  a  drunkard,  or 
a  glutton,  and  unfit  for  any  other  business,  to  him 
they  assigned  the  government  of  their  children.*  That 
teachers,  and  still  more  frequently  pedagogues,  were 
often  slaves,  is  well  known  to  all  students  of 
educational  history.  The  school  is  in  a  good  measure 

*  The  Training  of  Children. 


216  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

a  reflection  of  the  home.  As  a  rule,  kind  parents*  and 
cruel  teachers  are  not  likely  to  be  found  together.  For 
example,  Martin  Luther  informs  us  that  schoolmasters 
in  his  youth  were  tyrants  and  executioners.  The 
schools  were  prisons  and  hells,  and,  in  spite  of  blows, 
trembling,  fear,  and  misery,  taught  nothing.  He  had 
been  whipped  himself  fifteen  times  one  morning  with- 
out any  fault  of  his  own,  having  been  called  on  to  re- 
peat what  he  had  never  been  taught.  Luther  bears 
ample  testimony  to  the  affection  of  his  father  and 
mother,  still  he  relates  how  severely  they  punished 
him.  His  father  once  flogged  him  so  severely  that  he 
fled  from  him  and  bore  him  a  temporary  grudge.  His 
mother  once  whipped  him  till  the  blood  came  because 
he  had  taken  a  paltry  little  nut.  Luther  himself  says 
children  should  not  be  chastised  for  an  offense  about 
nuts  or  cherries  as  if  they  had  broken  open  a  money- 
box; and  he  recommends  that  "the  apple  be  placed 
beside  the  rod. '  '*  Coming  down  to  a  later  day,Macaulay 
gives  us  a  striking  picture  of  the  insensibility  of  Eng- 
lishmen to  suffering  in  the  second  half  of  the  seven- 
teenth century.  "Nowhere  could  be  found  that 
sensitive  and  restless  compassion  which  has,  in  our 
time,  extended  a  powerful  protection  to  the  factory 
child,  to  the  Hindoo  widow,  to  the  negro  slave,  which 
pries  into  the  stores  and  water-casks  of  every  emigrant 
ship,  which  winces  at  every  lash  laid  on  the  back  of 
the  drunken  soldier,  and  which  will  not  suffer  the 
thief  in  the  hulks  to  be  ill-fed  or  overworked,  and 
which  has  repeatedly  endeavored  to  save  the  life  of  a 
murderer."  t 

*  KOstlin's  Life,  page  11, 12.  t  History  of  England,  Chap.  iii. 


JESUS  AND  THE  CHILD.  217 

For  our  purposes  an  inquiry  into  the  causes  of  that 
vast  amelioration  of  which  the  new  sense  of  childhood 
is  only  a  part  is  more  important  than  the  fact  itself. 
However,  we  cannot  here  institute  so  broad  an  in- 
vestigation. We  may,  however,  in  the  first  place, 
emphasize  the  fact  that  the  new  sense  of  childhood 
is  but  a  part  of  a  broader  movement  of  thought, 
feeling,  and  activity.  Man's  inhumanity  to  man,  of 
which  the  poet  sings,  is  appreciably  wearing  away. 
Human  nature  is  coming  to  be  invested  with  a  new 
sense  of  worth  and  dignity.  Life  is  held  more  dear, 
and  suffering  is  more  regarded. 

Various  causes  have  contributed  to  this  remarkable 
change.  However,  the  grand  cause  is  the  life  and 
ministry  of  the  Teacher  of  Nazareth.  He  taught  the 
sacredness  of  human  life.  He  taught  the  dignity  of 
the  human  soul.  He  gave  men  a  new  measure  of 
character  and  worth.  In  particular,  He  showed  men 
how  blessed  a  thing  is  sympathy,  and  taught  them 
the  duty  of  sympathizing  with  the  poor,  the  weak, 
and  the  wretched.  Above  all,  He  it  was  who  assigned 
to  the  child  the  place  that  he  is  now  coming  to  hold 
in  the  thoughts,  feelings,  and  activities  of  men. 
Into  this  phase  of  the  subject,  we  must  now  inquire 
more  closely. 

First.  He  made  the  entrance  of  the  child  into  the 
world  typical  of  the  entrance  of  the  individual  soul 
into  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven.  As  there  is  a  birth,  so 
there  is  a  new  birth.  He  said  to  Nicodemus:  "  Verily, 
verily,  I  say  unto  you,  Except  a  man  be  born  again,  he 
cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God."  And  when  Nico- 
demus asked  Him  how  a  man  could  be  born  when  he 


218  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

was  old,  he  received  the  significant  reply:  "  Verily, 
verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  Except  a  man  be  born  of  water, 
and  of  the  Spirit,  he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
God.  That  which  is  born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh,  and 
that  which  is  born  of  the  Spirit  is  spirit.  Marvel  not 
that  I  said  unto  thee,  Ye  must  be  born  again."  *  Here 
is  an  excellent  illustration  of  the  method  so  often  met 
with  in  The  New  Testament  of  basing  ethical  lessons 
on  physical  analogies.  It  is,  indeed,  the  only  method 
by  which  such  lessons  can  be  conveyed.  Witness  the 
use  of  the  family  and  of  other  human  relations.  God 
is  the  Father  in  Heaven,  every  man  born  of  woman  is 
a  child  of  His  by  descent  and  natural  birth,  every  dis- 
ciple of  Jesus  is  a  child  by  regeneration  or  spiritual 
birth.  The  Church  is  a  family,  Jesus  is  elder  brother, 
and  all  others  are  brethren.  To  give  objective  im- 
pressiveness  to  the  second  birth,  it  is  symbolized  in 
the  rite  of  baptism.  It  is  a  birth  of  water  as  well  as 
of  the  Spirit. 

This  mode  of  putting  the  central  idea  is  both  natural 
and  beautiful.  Similar  modes  of  speech  have  been 
widely  used  for  similar  purposes.  "The  words  of 
prophets  and  psalmists,"  says  Mr.  Scudder,  "  had 
again  and  again  found  in  the  throes  of  a  woman  in 
labor  a  symbol  of  the  struggle  of  humanity  for  a 
new  generation.  By  a  bold  and  profound  figure,  it 
was  said  of  the  great  central  Person  of  humanity:  'He 
shall  see  of  the  travail  of  his  soul  and  be  satisfied.'  "f 
Socrates  likened  the  origin  of  thoughts  in  the  mind  to 
birth,  and,  borrowing  a  figure  from  his  mother's  pro- 
fession, called  himself  the  midwife  of  tyis  pupils.  We 

*  John  iii.  1-7.  t  Pp.  51,  52. 


JESUS  AND  THE  CHILD.  219 

speak  of  the  birth  of  ideas,  of  causes,  of  movements, 
of  the  state;  we  call  the  great  intellectual  revival  of 
the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries  the  Renaissance, 
or  the  New  Birth  of  the  human  mind :  but  the  pro- 
foundest  use  to  which  the  analogy  has  ever  been  put, 
or  ever  can  be  put,  was  when  Jesus  told  men  that  they 
must  be  born  again. 

Secondly,  Jesus  made  the  child-life  typical  of  the 
Christian  life.  Stirred  by  feelings  of  ambition  and 
rivalry,  the  disciples  once  came  to  the  Master  with  the 
question:  "  Who  is  the  greatest  in  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven?"  They  showed  the  same  gross  misappre- 
hension that  was  manifested  by  the  mother  of  James 
and  John,  when  she  came  with  her  two  sons  asking 
that  one  of  them  might  sit  on  His  right  hand,  and  the 
other  on  His  left,  in  His  kingdom.  His  impressive 
reply  is  in  these  words : 

"  And  Jesus  called  a  little  child  unto  Him,  and  set 
Him  in  the  midst  of  them,  and  said,  Verily  I  say  unto 
you,  except  ye  be  converted  and  become  as  little  chil- 
dren, ye  shall  not  enter  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven. 
And  whoso  shall  receive  one  such  little  child  in  my 
name,  receiveth  me.  But  whoso  shall  offend  one  of 
these  little  ones,  which  believe  in  me,  it  were  better 
for  him  that  a  millstone  were  hanged  about  his  neck, 
and  that  he  were  drowned  in  the  depth  of  the  sea."* 

This  is  what  modern  pedagogists  call  an  object 
lesson.  The  words  used  point  to  some  mental  quality 
that  is  exemplified  in  the  child  which  must  also  be 
exemplified  in  the  citizen  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven. 
Men  must  become  little  children.  What  is  this  mental 

*  Matt,  xviii.  2-6. 


220  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

quality?  In  what  respect  must  men  become  like  chil- 
dren? 

Evidently  not  in  the  vigor  and  content  of  the  intel- 
lect, for  we  are  exhorted  to  put  away  childish  things 
and  to  be  men  in  understanding.  These  exhortations 
come  indeed  from  another  teacher,  but  still  from  a 
teacher  who  well  understood  his  Master.  What  then? 
Evidently  the  likeness  consists  in  that  freedom  from 
personal  bias,  that  humility  of  character,  and  that 
teachability  of  mind  which  are  so  characteristic  of 
childhood.  The  greatest  man  is  he  who  humbles  him- 
self as  a  little  child.  This  is  one  of  the  paradoxes 
that  Jesus  introduced  into  the  world:  greatness  is 
humility.  In  substance,  it  is  the  same  lesson  that  was 
taught  to  the  ten  when  they  were  moved  with  indig- 
nation against  James  and  John. 

"  But  Jesus  called  them  unto  Him  and  said,  Ye  know 
that  the  princes  of  the  Gentiles  exercise  dominion  over 
them,  and  they  that  are  great  exercise  authority  upon 
them.  But  it  shall  not  be  so  among  you:  but  whoso- 
ever would  be  great  among  you,  let  him  be  your  minis- 
ter; and  whosoever  would  be  chief  among  you,  let  him 
be  your  servant;  even  as  the  Son  of  Man  came  not  to 
be  ministered  unto,  but  to  minister,  and  to  give  His 
life  a  ransom  for  many."  * 

Both  psychology  and  history  suggest  a  genetic  rela- 
tion between  virgin  mind  and  new  ideas  and  causes. 
Men  of  knowledge  and  mental  maturity,  of  power  and 
standing,  are  more  or  less  bound 'by  pride  of  opinion 
and  social  connections.  Their  minds  are  made  up, 
and  to  change  them  would  seem  to  argue  instability; 

*Matt.  xx,  25,  26. 


JESUS  AND  THE  CHILD.  221 

moreover,  their  minds  have  taken  on  a  certain  artifici- 
ality that  defies  change.  These  are  natural  tendencies, 
and  they  are  commonly  wholly  unknown  to  those 
who  respond  to  them.  How  perfectly  in  character  is 
the  question  that  the  Pharisees  ask  the  officers :  "Have 
any  of  the  rulers  or  Pharisees  believed  on  him?  But 
this  people,  who  knoweth  not  the  Law,  is  accursed.*" 
This  people  are  the  common  people  who  heard  Jesus 
gladly.  Paul's  declaration  that  not  many  wise  men 
after  the  flesh,  not  many  mighty,  not  many  noble,  are 
called,  that  is,  to  preach  the  Gospel,  points  at  once  to 
those  conservative  forces  which,  under  similar  circum- 
stances, declare  themselves  the  world  over,  f  New 
ideas  are  apt  to  be  brought  forward  by  new  men.  New 
causes  as  a  rule  find  their  apostles,  prophets,  evangel- 
ists, and  teachers  outside  the  pale  of  tradition  and 
convention.  Moreover,  the  great  reason  why  new 
causes  often  prove  to  be  so  powerful,  is  the  fact  that 
they  open  the  doors  of  opportunity  to  undiscovered 
talent  and  genius,  which  never  would  have  been,  or 
could  have  been,  awakened  to  life  and  activity  by  the 
old  custom  or  tradition.  It  was  when  Jesus  had  be- 
come discouraged  about  Chorazin  and  Bethsaida,  that 
he  uttered  the  familiar  words,  so  rich  in  spiritual  phi- 
losophy: "  I  think  thee,  O  Father,  Lord  of  heaven 
and  earth,  because  thou  hast  hid  these  things  from 
the  wise  and  prudent,  and  hast  revealed  them  unto 
babes."  J  The  trouble  is  not  so  much  that  the  wise 
and  prudent  will  not  receive  the  new  word,  as  that 
they  are  unable,  to  do  so.  Their  minds  have  taken  on 
a  certain  form  or  cast,  and  cannot  the  second  time 

*  John  vii.  47,  48.  t  1  Cor.  i.  28.  \  Matt.  xi.  25. 


222  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

become  plastic.  Equally  significant  is  another  familiar 
passage.  When  the  chief  priests  and  scribes  were  dis- 
pleased as  they  heard  the  children  crying  in  the  Temple, 
"Hosannah  to  the  Son  of  David,"  Jesus  asked  them: 
"Have  ye  not  read,  Out  of  the  mouth  of  babes  and 
sucklings  thou  hast  perfected  praise?  "  *  And  these 
further  words,  which  have  given  the  commentators  no 
little  trouble,  also  point  to  that  openness  and  inno- 
cency  of  the  young  mind  which  make  it  so  susceptible 
to  influence:  "  Take  heed  that  ye  despise  not  one  of 
these  little  ones ;  for  I  say  unto  you,  that  in  heaven 
their  angels  do  always  behold  the  face  of  my  Father 
which  is  in  heaven."  In  another  sense,  perhaps,  than 
Wordsworth  meant  it, 

Heaven  lies  about  us  in  our  infancy. 

The  character  of  the  early  converts  to  the  Christian 
faith  is  too  well  known  to  call  for  formal  description. 
The  words  of  contempt  with  which  the  opponents  of 
Jesus  were  in  the  habit  of  referring  to  his  followers 
are  thickly  scattered  through  the  Gospels.  When 
Nicodemus  pleaded  that  the  Law  did  not  condemn  a 
man  before  he  was  heard,  it  was  a  sufficient  reply  to 
ask,  "  Are  ye  also  a  Galilean?"  When  the  Pagans 
finally  consented  to  argue  with  the  adherents  of  the 
new  faith,  they  commanded,  generally  speaking,  the 
learning,  philosophy,  and  literature  of  the  times.  The 
learned  and  literary  classes  of  the  Roman  world  saw 
no  deeper  into  the  great  movement  of  the  ages  than 
Tacitus  saw  when  he  wrote:  "  The  originator  of  that 
name  was  one  Christ,  who,  in  the  reign  of  Tiberius, 
suffered  death  by  sentence  of  the  Procurator,  Pontius 

*  Matt.  xi.  15,  16. 


JESUS  AND  THE  CHILD.  223 

Pilate.  The  baneful  superstition,  thereby  repressed 
for  the  time,  again  broke  out,  not  only  over  Judaea,  the 
native  soil  of  that  mischief,  but  in  the  City  also,  where 
from  every  side  all  atrocious  and  abominable  things 
collect  and  flourish."  This  celebrated  passage,  it  may 
be  observed,  called  out  from  Carlyle  the  observation: 
"  To  us  it  is  the  most  earnest,  sad,  and  significant  pas- 
sage that  we  know  to  exist  in  history."  And  again: 
* 'Tacitus  was  the  wisest,  most  penetrating  man  of  his 
generation;  and  to  such  depth,  and  no  deeper,  has  he 
seen  into  this  transaction,  the  most  important  that 
has  occurred,  or  can  occur,  in  the  annals  of  man- 
kind."* 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  ideas  now  advanced 
are  confined  to  ethics  and  religion.  They  meet  us 
again  in  the  history  of  science  and  philosophy.  It  is 
a  well-known  saying  that  no  English  physician  more 
than  forty  years  old  at  the  time  when  Harvey 
discovered  the  circulation  of  the  blood,  ever  accept- 
ed that  discovery.  Pestalozzi,  the  great  reformer 
of  primary  education,  at  one  time  passed  for  an 
ignoramus.  When  it  was  charged  that  he  was  no 
scholar,  he  admitted  the  fact,  and  declared  that  it 
worked  to  his  advantage.  He  says  himself  that  for 
thirty  years  he  did  not  read  a  single  book.  "My 
incapacity  in  those  respects,"  he  says,  "  was  certainly 
an  indispensable  condition  for  my  discovery  of  the 
simplest  method  of  teaching."  Perhaps  some  minds 
will  scoff  at  such  a  claim;  but  had  Pestalozzi  been 
a  well-equipped  scholar,  had  his  mind  been  walled 
about  with  learning,  had  he  been  a  logician,  it  is  im- 

*  Essay  on  Voltaire. 


224  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

probable  that  he  would  have  had  that  nearness  to 
childhood,  that  sympathy  with  mind  before  it  is 
conventionalized,  and  that  sure  intuition  without 
which  he  would  have  been  unknown  in  the  annals 
of  education. 

It  is  well  known  that  Lord  Bacon  approached  Nature 
in  the  same  spirit  that  Jesus  approached  God.  He 
wrote:  "  Man  is  the  servant  and  interpreter  of  nature ; 
we  can  only  conquer  nature  by  first  obeying  her.  " 
And  once  more:  "  The  kingdom  of  man,  which  was 
founded  on  the  sciences,  cannot  be  entered  other- 
wise than  the  Kingdom  of  God,  that  is,  in  the  spirit  of 
a  little  child." 

Thirdly,  Jesus  always  showed  a  deep  personal 
interest  in  children.  Some  of  His  most  notable  mira- 
cles are  suggested  by  the  word.  He  healed  Jairus's 
daughter,  delivered  the  boy  possessed  with  devils, 
restored  to  health  the  nobleman's  son,  and  listened  to 
the  plaint  of  the  Syrophcenician  woman.  It  was  per- 
fectly in  character  that  there  should  be  brought  unto 
Him  little  children,  "that  He  should  put  His  hands  on 
them  and  pray."  It  was  also  natural  that  the  dis- 
ciples should  rebuke  those  who  brought  them.  No 
doubt  their  view  was  that  the  Master  was  weary  or  oc- 
cupied, and  that  they  must  protect  Him  against  annoy- 
ance. When  He  saw  what  the  disciples  did,  He  was 
much  displeased,  and  said  unto  them:  "  Suffer  the 
little  children  to  come  unto  me,  and  forbid  them  not ; 
for  of  such  is  the  Kingdom  of  God.  Verily  I  say  unto 
you,  Whosoever  shall  not  receive  the  Kingdom  of  God 
as  a  little  child,  he  shall  not  enter  therein.  And  he 
took  them  up  in  His  arms,  put  His  hands  upon  them, 


JESUS  AND  THE  CHILD.  225 

and  blessed  them."  *  And  this  brings  us  back  to  the 
former  thought — the  child  as  a  type  of  the  disciple. 
The  same  chord  is  struck  again  in  this  familiar  pas- 
sage: "  And  whosoever  shall  give  to  drink  unto  one 
of  these  little  ones  a  cup  of  cold  water  only,  in  the 
name  of  a  disciple,  verily  I  say  unto  you,  he  shall  in 
no  wise  lose  his  reward."  t 

It  was  impossible  that  such  a  Spirit  should  not  live 
close  to  Nature.  His  perfect  naturalness  and  simplic- 
ity have  commanded  the  widest  and  most  unbounded 
admiration.  Jesus  moved  among  the  traditions,  con- 
ventions, and  proprieties  of  an  old  civilization,  and 
one  in  some  respects  that  was  highly  artificial;  but 
His  mind  was  as  fresh,  and  His  character  as  simple, 
as  though  He  had  come  in  the  very  morning  of  the 
world.  Moreover,  His  simplicity  and  naturalness  were 
the  main  cause  of  His  unfailing  touch  in  dealing  with 
the  human  heart. 

It  is  almost  needless  to  observe  that  the  ideas  which 
have  been  presented  are  anticipations  of  modern 
pedagogy.  The  relation  of  the  child-life  to  the  adult- 
life;  the  need  of  understanding  the  child-nature;  the 
necessity  of  getting  close  to  that  nature;  the  value 
of  naturalness,  simplicity,  and  sympathy;  freedom 
from  mechanism,  routine,  and  authority;  spontaneity 
and  individuality — these  are  fundamental  ideas  in  our 
educational  philosophy.  Rousseau  was  deeply  inter- 
ested in  the  child,  although  he  sent  his  own  children 
to  the  foundling  hospital ;  and  it  has  been  remarked 
"  that  there  is  nothing  sadder  than  that  page  of  '  The 

*  Matt.  xix.  U,  15;  Mark  x.  15,  16.  t  Matt.  x.  42. 

15 


226  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

Confessions '  in  which  he  relates  how  he  often  placed 
himself  at  the  window  to  observe  the  dismissal  of 
school  in  order  to  listen  to  the  conversation  of  children 
as  a  furtive  and  unseen  observer."  The  writer  to 
whom  we  are  indebted  for  this  remark  has  himself 
said:  " Like  the  psychology  of  the  child,  pedagogy 
itself,  at  least  in  its  first  chapter,  ought  to  be  conceived 
and  written  near  a  cradle."  The  great  superiority 
of  the  new  education  to  the  old  consists  mainly  in  the 
farther  advance  that  it  has  made  along  the  path  where 
the  Great  Teacher  pioneered  the  way. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

HIS   THEORY   OF    TEACHING. 

IN  some  quarters  this  heading  may  create  surprise. 
"Did  the  Teacher  who  was  always  practical,"  it  may 
be  asked,  "who  said  nothing  about  theories  of  any 
kind,  and  who  kept  as  far  as  possible  from  all  art  and 
self-consciousness, — did  He  have  a  theory  of  teach- 
ing?" The  answer  to  this  question  must  be  distinctly 
in  the  affirmative.  Moreover,  this  answer  is  part  of 
a  fact  so  general  and  so  important  that  space  may 
well  be  taken  to  give  it  emphatic  formal  statement. 

The  Greek  word  theoria,  from  which  we  have  de- 
rived "theory,"  came  from  the  verb  theorein,  "to 
view,"  "to  look  at,"  "to  consider  philosophically," 
and  means  "a  general  view,"  a  mode  of  regarding  any 
subject,  or  of  "carrying  on"  any  kind  of  activity.  As 
applied  to  teaching,  speaking,  or  governing,  theoria 
means  simply  the  facts  and  ideas  relating  to  the  art 
reduced  to  system  or  order.  This  is  the  proper  mean- 
ing of  our  word  "theory."  It  is  therefore  a  mistake 
to  confound  theory  with  conjecture,  assumption,  or 
unsupported  speculation.  If  a  theory  is  bad,  it  is  be- 
cause facts  have  been  wrongly  excluded  or  included 
in  its  formation,  or  because  they  have  been  wrongly 
interpreted.  All  intelligent  action  is  conducted  ac- 

(227) 


228  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

cording  to  some  facts  or  ideas  properly  understood ; 
and  for  a  man  to  proclaim  himself  without  theories 
is  to  proclaim  himself  without  guiding  intelligence. 
The  superiority  of  the  self-styled  "practical  man'7 
over  him  whom  he  scornfully  calls  "  the  book  man," 
consists  largely  in  his  assumed  freedom  from  theo- 
ries. However,  the  fact  is  that  the  practical  man 
is  as  much  a  theorist  as  anybody  else.  No  man 
who  has  ideas  is  without  theories.  A  learned  Ox- 
ford professor,  writing  on  the  subject  of  political 
economy,  after  observing  "that  all  men  at  all  times 
have  occupied  themselves  with  the  creation  of  wealth 
according  to  certain  rules  and  ideas,"  very  pertinently 
remarks : 

No  laborious  employment  can  be  extensively  carried  on 
without  the  existence  of  some  notions  as  to  the  right  way  of 
working,  and  the  most  fitting  methods  for  attaining  the  end  de- 
sired. It  is  a  mistake,  though  a  very  common  one,  to  suppose 
that  practical  men,  as  they  are  called,  are  destitute  of  theory. 
The  exact  reverse  of  this  statement  is  true.  Practical  men 
swarm  with  theories,  none  more  so.  They  abound  in  views,  in 
ideas,  in  rules  which  they  endow  with  the  pompous  authority  of 
experience ;  and  when  new  principles  are  proposed,  none  are  so 
quick  as  practical  men  to  overwhelm  the  innovator  with  an 
array  of  the  wisdom  which  is  to  be  found  in  prevalent  prac  - 
tice. 

The  difference  between  men  is,  rather,  that  some 
have  good  theories  and  others  bad  ones,  or  that  some 
have  formed  their  theories  with  care  while  others 
have  not,  than  that  some  have  theories  while  others 
have  none.  Even  the  savage  has  his  explanations  of 
natural  phenomena.  He  says,  for  example,  that  an 
eclipse  of  the  moon  is  caused  by  a  big  fish  trying  to 
swallow  the  moon,  and  so  he  makes  a  great  noise  for 


HIS  THEORY  OF  TEACHING.  229 

the  purpose  of  driving  off  the  fish.      The  writer  just 
quoted  further  observes  : 

The  difference  which  ^separates  the  man  of  science  from  the 
man  of  practice  does  not  consist  in  the  presence  of  general 
views  and  ideas  on  one  side,  and  their  absence  on  the  other. 
Both  have  views  and  ideas.  The  distinction  lies  in  the  method 
by  which  those  views  have  been  reached,  in  the  breadth  and 
completeness  of  the  investigation  pursued,  in  the  rigorous  ques- 
tioning of  facts,  and  the  careful  digestion  of  the  instruction 
they  contain,  in  the  co-ordination  and  the  logical  cohesion  of 
the  truth  established.* 

The  theories  of  the  quack  or  charlatan  grow  out  of 
his  own  narrow  experience,  and  are  limited  by  it:  the 
theories  of  the  scientific  physician  are  based  on  the 
experience  of  the  medical  profession. 

As  to  methods,  there  is  a  wide  difference  of  opin- 
ion. Talleyrand  called  methods  masters'  masters. 
4 'They  are  to  teachers  themselves,"  he  said,  "what 
teachers  are  to  their  pupils."  Pestalozzi,  the  great 
educational  reformer,  made  the  method  everything, 
the  teacher  nothing;  a  text-book,  he  declared,  was 
worthless  unless  it  could  be  used  by  a  person  who  was 
ignorant  of  the  subject,  as  well  as  by  one  who  was 
instructed.  Jacotot,  the  French  educational  reform- 
er, made  the  same  mistake.  He  declared  "that  every 
one  can  teach,  and,  moreover,  can  teach  that  which 
he  does  not  know  himself."  These  extreme  opinions 
need  not  be  formally  confuted.  Educational  theories 
and  methods  are  not  machines  that  can  take  the 
place  of  individual  thought  and  feeling.  Important 
as  they  are,  they  can  never  be  accorded  a  first  rank. 
Compayoe  says  the  wisdom  of  the  ages  on  this  point 

*  Bonamy  Price :    Principles  of  Currency.    Lect.  I. 


230  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

is  summed  up  in  the  proverb,  "As  is  the  master,  so  is 
the  method." 

Jesus  said  nothing  about  a  theory  of  mental 
growth,  or  of  didactic  method.  Not  a  word  can  be 
found  in  the  Gospels  on  either  topic.  Still  a  theory 
and  method  are  nevertheless  implicitly  contained  in 
all  His  teaching.  In  this  respect,  however,  He  is  not 
singular.  The  greatest  teachers  say  little  or  nothing 
about  the  principles  or  rules  upon  which  they  act. 
They  are  too  intent  on  using  their  art  to  make  it 
prominent;  nay,  more,  they  know  perfectly  well  that 
to  make  it  prominent  would  defeat  their  ends.  That 
highest  art  which  conceals  art  is  not  conscious  but 
spontaneous;  those  who  show  it  are  implicitly  guided 
by  principle  and  rule,  but  they  are  too  much  absorbed 
in  what  they  are  doing  to  discourse  on  the  principle 
and  rule  according  to  which  they  do  it.  Moreover, 
this  is  likely  to  be  peculiarly  true  of  moral  and  relig- 
ious teachers,  owing  to  the  engrossing  nature  of  their 
subjects. 

Following  the  course  that  He  did,  Jesus  left  an  in- 
valuable lesson  to  all  who  should  come  after  Him  in 
the  same  succession.  What  one  receives  as  religious 
truth,  and  his  formulation  of  it,  often  turns  in  whole 
or  part  upon  that  scheme  or  system  of  thought  which 
he  calls  his  philosophy.  Theology  is  but  an  ordered 
arrangement  of  what  is  accepted  as  religious  truth, 
and  is  largely  influenced  by  one's  view  of  human  na- 
ture. Philosophy  and  theology  have  their  place,  and 
an  important  one  too,  but  this  is  not  the  preacher's 
pulpit  or  the  moralist's  platform.  Hungry  men  come 
to  the  table  for  bread,  not  to  read  some  recipes  for 


HIS  THEORY  OF  TEACHING.  231 

the  preparation  of  dishes,  or  to  look  at  some  kitchen 
furniture.  Waiting  souls  do  not  care  to  look  into  the 
inside  of  the  minister's  study.  Processes  and  tools 
are  absolutely  necessary,  but  they  are  not  for  public 
use.  An  educated  minister  will  have  a  theology 
that  will  regulate,  in  a  general  way,  his  thinking,  and 
so  his  teaching;  but  the  proper  rule  for  him  to  fol- 
low is  to  preach  according  to  a  theology,  but  not  to 
preach  a  theology.  His  audience  want  fruits  or  re- 
sults. He  will  not  waste  his  time  in  proving  that  men 
have  souls,  but  will  assume  it,  as  Jesus  did,  and  act 
accordingly.  He  will  not  dispute  about  the  con- 
science or  the  will,  but  will  deal  directly  with  men  of 
conscience  and  will.  He  will  not  consume  his  energy 
in  explaining  his  theories  and  methods,  but  use  them 
in  a  practical  prosecution  of  his  work.  He  will  fol- 
low an  order  in  preaching,  but  not  make  the  mistake 
of  devoting  himself  to  proving  that  this  order  is  the 
true  one.  The  wise  teacher  of  secular  studies  pre- 
pares and  conducts  his  work  according  to  certain  ped- 
agogical principles,  but  he  does  not  carry  these  princi- 
ples into  the  school-room  and  substitute  them  for  the 
subject-matter  that  he  is  to  teach.  The  preacher 
should  conform  to  the  same  rule,  as  Jesus  Himself, 
did.  And  still  it  should  be  observed  that,  in  one  re- 
spect, the  analogy  of  the  school  does  not  hold  in  the 
church.  Sometimes  a  false  philosophy,  or  wrong 
ideas  of  method,  may  stand  in  the  preacher's  way, 
while  such  a  state  of  things  is  rarely  or  never  found 
in  the  school.  Materialistic  views  of  man's  nature, 
or  wrong  notions  of  the  value  of  means  or  agents 
employed  in  influencing  men,  may  stand  in  the  way  of 


232  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

the  preacher's  success;  and  if  so,  he  may  find  it  nec- 
essary to  grapple  with  these  errors  directly,  and,  if 
possible,  overcome  them. 

The  theory  of  teaching  that  Jesus  conformed  to 
may  be  considered  under  three  heads. 

1.  His  view  of  human  nature. 

2.  His  ideal  or  purpose. 

3.  His  choice  of  means  to  accomplish  His  ideal  or 
purpose. 

These  ideas  are  closely  connected  by  their  very 
nature.  The  first  is  formed  with  primary  reference 
to  the  second,  and  then  the  two  determine  the  third. 
We  go  at  once  to  His  view  of  human  nature  to  find 
the  ground  or  the  basis  of  His  whole  system. 

The  most  important  question  that  can  be  asked 
about  a  religious  founder  relates  to  his  personal  char- 
acter. The  next  most  important  one  relates  to  the 
basis  or  foundation  of  his  system.  Upon  what  does 
he  ground  it?  How  does  he  distribute  his  emphasis? 
Man  has  a  physical  and  a  mental  nature,  and  the  first 
question  that  can  arise  is  whether  the  founder  makes 
his  appeal  to  the  one  or  to  the  other.  Does  he  at- 
tempt to  control  men  through  their  bodies  or  through 
their  minds?  If  through  their  minds,  then  the  sec- 
ond question  is  whether  he  emphasizes  the  ceremo- 
nial, the  doctrinal,  or  the  practical  elements  of  re- 
ligion. Does  he  throw  his  stress  upon  rites,  upon 
teaching  or  doctrine,  or  upon  life  and  conduct?  If 
the  answer  be  teaching  or  doctrine,  the  third  question 
is  whether  the  teaching  is  mainly  of  a  philosophical 
or  scientific  cast,  or  of  a  practical  cast.  Does  he 
seek  mainly  to  energize  the  intellect,  or  to  move  the 


HIS  THEORY  OF  TEACHING.  233 

affections  and  the  will?  Or,  if  the  answer  be  life  or 
conduct,  then  the  next  question  will  relate  to  the 
means  by  which  he  shall  control  or  regulate  it. 
While  this  is  not  a  fully  wrought-out  analysis,  it  will 
assist  us  in  our  attempt  to  place  Jesus  as  a  religious 
founder. 

We  are  first  to  observe  that  He  wholly  excludes 
from  His  system  the  element  of  external  force.  He 
never  resorts  to  material  means,  to  physical  pains  and 
penalties.  His  kingdom  is  a  kingdom  of  the  mind, 
His  reign  a  reign  of  the  spirit.  Still,  this  exclusion  of 
the  physical  element  is  affected  negatively  rather  than 
affirmatively;  He  never  entertains  the  thought  of 
using  compulsion  even  to  the  extent  of  making  a  for- 
mal denial.  The  calm  confidence  with  which  He  rests 
on  moral  means,  is  the  grandest  tribute  that  has  ever 
been  paid  to  human  nature. 

But,  in  strict  conformity  to  His  method,  He  pro- 
pounded no  theory  of  the  mind,  and  engaged  in  no 
psychological  discussions.  He  used  the  terms  that 
were  commonly  applied  to  mental  facts,  and  used 
them,  no  doubt,  in  their  currently  accepted  mean- 
ing. I  shall  not  make  these  terms  the  subject  of 
criticism.  To  enter  upon  the  question  of  dichotomy  or 
trichotomy,  or  even  to  attempt  definitions  of  "soul," 
"spirit,"  "mind,"  and  "heart,"  would  take  me  far 
from  my  path.  It  suffices  to  observe  that  the  words 
are  not  used  in  The  New  Testament  with  scientific 
accuracy,  but  are  rather  employed  in  general  or  liter- 
ary senses,  and  that,  accordingly,  they  are  but  different 
names  for  the  same  thing,  or  at  least  more  or  less 
overlap.  When  we  hear  Jesus  say:  "  Thou  shait  love 


234  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy 
soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind  "  (or,  as  another  Evangel- 
ist puts  it,  "  With  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul, 
and  with  all  thy  strength,  and  with  all  thy  mind  ")  * 
we  cannot  draw  from  the  saying  a  true  analysis  of 
man's  spiritual  nature,  but  only  that  man  is  to  bring 
all  the  powers  of  that  nature  to  this  service  of  love. 
However,  while  there  is  no  formal  trace  of  a  division 
of  the  mind  in  His  teaching,  such  a  division  is  still 
implied  throughout. 

Jesus  never  says  anything  about  the  intellect,  or  the 
organ  of  knowledge ;  but  He  constantly  assumes  that 
men  are  capable  of  knowing  and  understanding,  and 
accordingly  addresses  them  as  rational  beings.  He 
never  mentions  the  sensibility;  but  He  ever  appeals 
to  men  as  possessed  of  feeling,  and  so  as  capable  of 
being  moved.  He  is  silent  as  to  the  faculty  of  choice 
and  volition;  but  the  assumption  that  men  can  decide 
and  act  lies  at  the  root  of  all  His  teaching.  He 
always  speaks  to  men  as  thinking,  feeling,  and  acting 
beings. 

He  assigns  a  central  place  to  the  will.  This  be- 
comes clear  the  moment  that  we  consider  His  educa- 
tional ideal.  His  aim  is  practical,  not  speculative. 
He  strove  to  produce  worthy  characters  and  noble 
lives,  and  not  men  of  great  intellectual  powers  and  at- 
tainments. Men  are  known  by  their  fruits.  Not 
every  one  that  says  unto  Him,  Lord,  Lord,  shall  enter 
into  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  but  he  that  does  the  will 
of  the  Father  who  is  in  heaven.  To  many  who  say  to 
Him  that  they  have  prophesied  and  done  many  won- 

*  Matt.  xxii.  27;  Luke  x.  27. 


ITT 
HIS  THEORY  OF  TEACHING,  235 

derful  works  in  His  name,  He  will  declare  that  He 
never  knew  them,  and  command  them  to  depart  from 
Him.  Whosoever  hears  His  sayings  and  does  them, 
is  like  a  wise  man  who  builds  on  a  rock,  while  every 
one  that  hears  them  and  does  not  do  them,  is  like  a 
foolish  man  who  builds  on  the  sand.  The  man  who 
will  do  the  will  of  God,  or  who  wishes  to  do  that  will, 
is  the  man  who  shall  know  the  doctrine.  He  de- 
manded of  certain  persons  who  rendered  Him  lip- 
service,  "And  why  call  ye  me  Lord,  Lord,  and  do  not 
the  things  which  I  say?  "  One  day  as  He  was  talking 
to  the  people,  one  of  their  number  told  Him  that  His 
mother  and  brethren  stood  without  desiring  to  speak 
with  Him.  Jesus  answered:  "  Who  is  my  mother? 
and  who  are  my  brethren?  And  He  stretched  forth 
His  hand  toward  His  disciples,  and  said,  Behold  my 
mother  and  my  brethren!  For  whosoever  shall  do  the 
will  of  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven,  the  same  is  my 
brother,  and  sister,  and  mother."  When  he  was 
asked  what  was  the  great  commandment  in  the  Law, 
He  replied.  "  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with 
all  thy  heart,  and  with  alt  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy 
mind.  This  is  the  first  and  great  commandment. 
And  the  second  is  like  unto  it,  Thou  shalt  love  thy 
neighbor  as  thyself.  On  these  two  commandments 
hang  all  the  law  and  the  prophets."  Again,  to  a  law- 
yer who  asked  Him  what  he  should  do  to  inherit  eter- 
nal life,  He  replied  that  if  he  would  do  these  command- 
ments he  should  live;  and  when  the  lawyer,  seeking  to 
justify  himself,  demanded,  "  Who  is  my  neighbor?  " 
Jesus  answered  with  the  parable  of  the  Good  Samari- 
tan. And  finally,  there  is  the  pathetic  lament  over 


236  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

Jerusalem  in  the  same  tenor:  "How  often  would  I 
have  gathered  thy  children  together,  even  as  a  hen 
gathereth  her  chickens  under  her  wings,  and  ye  would 
not!"  He  has  certainly  read  the  Gospels  to  little 
purpose  who  does  not  see  that  the  object  which  Jesus 
constantly  holds  before  Him  is  wholly  ethical. 

There  are  two  views  of  human  nature,  directly  op- 
posed to  one  another,  that  men  have  espoused.  One 
is  the  optimistic  view,  the  other  the  pessimistic.  The 
first  emphasizes  the  good  that  is  seen  in  man,  the  sec- 
ond the  evil.  Abundant  facts  can  be  gathered  to  sup- 
port either  view;  and  whichever  one  a  man  adopts 
depends  largely  on  his  mental  habit  and  tone,  which 
again  depends  upon  heredity  and  previous  experience. 
When  one  broods  on  the  whips  and  scorns  of  time, 
the  oppressor's  wrong,  the  proud  man's  contumely, 
the  pangs  of  disprized  love,  the  law's  delay,  the  inso- 
lence of  office,  the  spurns  that  merit  takes  of  the  un- 
worthy, man's  inhumanity  to  man,  the  weakness  and 
moral  cowardice  in  the  world,  the  thrift  that  follows 
fawning,  the  self-seeking,  the  simulated  humility,  the 
feigned  superiority, — he  does  not  wonder  that  the 
Juvenals,  the  Rabelais,  and  the  Swifts  should  be 
moved  to  scorch  and  blast  humanity  with  the  fires  of 
satire.  But  this  is  not  the  view  of  Jesus.  He  recog- 
nizes evil  men  and  evil-doing,  and  rebukes  them,  as  in 
the  Great  Denunciation.  He  tells  men  that  they  are 
lost,  that  they  are  estranged  from  God,  that  they  can 
not  rescue  or  help  themselves,  and  that  He  has  come 
to  seek  and  to  save  the  lost.  Still  He  is  profoundly 
optimistic.  If  men  are  bad,  they  can  become  better. 
He  sees  great  possibilities  in  human  nature,  and  His 


HIS  THEORY  OF  TEACHING.  237 

estimate  of  these  possibilities  is  measured  by  the  sac- 
rifice that  He  is  glad  to  make  in  order  that  they  may 
be  realized.  He  speaks  to  men  of  regeneration,  of  a 
higher  life,  and  of  salvation  from  sin.  Beholding 
the  ignorance,  the  weakness,  and  the  wickedness  in 
which  men  are  plunged,  He  does  not  condemn  or  de- 
spise them,  but  His  compassion  is  the  more  deeply 
moved.  His  soul  travails  for  the  lost,  as  a  woman  in 
labor.  He  never  spurns  the  publican  or  spits  upon 
the  harlot.  He  never  satirizes  human  nature,  or 
holds  its  limitations  up  to  mockery.  No  pessimist 
would  have  said,  or  could  have  said:  "Come  unto  me, 
all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give 
you  rest.  Take  my  yoke  upon  you  and  learn  of  me; 
for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  at  heart ;  and  ye  shall  find 
rest  unto  your  souls.  For  my  yoke  is  easy,  and  my 
burden  is  light."  His  heart  was  the  fountain-head 
of  the  modern  enthusiasm  of  humanity. 

What  has  been  said  of  the  will  calls  for  a  fur- 
ther word  or  two.  As  we  have  seen  in  a  former 
chapter,  Jesus  recognized  a  state  of  heart  that  is  be- 
yond His  reach.  He  gave  as  a  reason  for  speaking  in 
parables,  that  in  seeing  men  saw  not,  and  in  hearing 
heard  not,  neither  did  they  understand;  for  in  them 
was  fulfilled  the  prophecy,  "  By  hearing  ye  shall  hear, 
and  shall  not  understand;  and  seeing  ye  shall  see,  and 
shall  not  perceive."  He  did  not  speak  to  men  answer- 
ing to  this  description,  in  order  to  render  His  teaching 
more  intelligible,  but  the  contrary.  In  a  word,  His 
explanation  of  His  use  of  parables  brings  us  to  the 
line  where  man's  free  will  and  God's  sovereign  power 
meet.  With  this  old  problem  I  shall  not  deal,  except 


238  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

to  say  that  both  The  Testaments  recognize  its  exis- 
tence, and  that  they  never  solve  it.  God  is  sovereign 
and  man  is  free.  But  bother  ourselves  over  the 
speculative  problem  as  we  may,  we  should  not  forget 
that  Jesus  always  approaches  the  subject  on  its  prac- 
tical side,  and  deals  with  men  as  beings  capable  of 
thought,  feeling,  and  action. 

But  we  must  not  forget  that  right  living  or  good 
conduct  is  an  effect  or  end  following  from  certain 
causes.  Neither  must  we  fail  to  inquire  what  were 
the  causes  or  means  that  Jesus  used  to  accomplish 
that  effect  or  end. 

These  causes  were  His  teachings.  Jesus  ever  re- 
garded His  teachings  as  a  means,  not  an  end.  He 
strove  to  regenerate  men's  hearts  that  He  might  reach 
their  lives.  As  has  been  said,  His  salvation  consists 
in  internal  regeneration  and  reformed  life.  He 
sought  to  mold  character  and  shape  life  from  the 
inside,  not  the  outside.  Hence  He  preached  faith 
and  love,  but  the  faith  that  He  preached  was  of  a 
very  simple  and  direct  kind.  A  learned  writer,  who 
has  explained  how  the  primary  faith  passed  into  the 
secondary  or  speculative  Christian  faith,  has  said  in  a 
passage  a  part  of  which  has  already  been  quoted: 

The  Greek  words  which  designate  belief,  or  faith,  are  used  in 
The  Old  Testament  chiefly  in  the  sense  of  trust,  and  primarily 
trust  in  a  person.  They  expressed  confidence  in  his  goodness, 
his  veracity,  his  uprightness.  They  are  as  much  moral  as 
intellectual.  They  imply  an  estimate  of  character.  Their  use 
in  application  to  God  was  not  different  from  their  use  in  appli- 
cation to  men.  Abraham  trusted  God.  The  Israelites  also 
trusted  God  when  they  saw  the  Egyptians  dead  upon  the  sea- 
shore. In  the  first  instance  there  was  just  so  much  of  intel- 


HIS  THEORY  OF  TEACHING.  239 

lectual  assent  involved  in  belief,  that  to  believe  God  involved 
an  assent  to  the  proposition  that  God  exists.  But  this  element 
was  latent  and  implied  rather  than  conscious  and  expressed. 
It  is  not  difficult  to  see  how,  when  this  proposition  became  to 
be  conscious  and  expressed,  it  should  lead  to  other  propositions. 
The  analysis  of  belief  led  to  the  construction  of  other  proposi- 
tions besides  the  bare  original  proposition  that  God  is.  Why 
do  I  trust  God?  The  answer  was:  Because  He  is  wise,  or 
good,  or  *ust.  The  propositions  followed:  I  believe  that  God  is 
wise,  that  He  is  good,  that  He  is  just.  Belief  in  God  came  to 
mean  the  assent  to  certain  propositions  about  God.* 

And  so  in  the  Gospels,  faith  is  primarily  trust  in 
God,  and  not  intellectual  belief  in  certain  proposi- 
tions or  dogmas;  or,  as  the  author  before  quoted, 
says: 

In  the  first  instance  the  intellectual  element  of  belief  was 
subordinated  to  the  ethical  purpose  of  the  religion.  Belief 
was  not  insisted  upon  in  itself,  and  for  itself,  but  as  the  ground 
of  moral  reformation.  The  main  content  of  the  belief  was  that 
men  are  punished  for  their  sins  and  honored  for  their  good 
deeds ;  the  ground  of  this  conviction  was  the  underlying  belief 
that  God  is,  and  that  He  rewards  and  punishes.  The  feature 
which  differentiated  Christianity  from  philosophy  was,  that  this 
belief  as  to  the  nature  of  God  had  been  made  certain  by  a  reve- 
lation. The  purpose  of  the  revelation  was  salvation,  regener- 
ation, and  amendment  of  life.  By  degrees  stress  came  to  be 
laid  on  this  underlying  element. 

It  is  very  true  that  Christian  faith  soon  began 
to  pass  from  confidence  in  an  unseen  Person  to  confi- 
dence in  an  intellectual  ground  upon  which  this 
primal  confidence  rested;  or  to  pass  beyond  the  moral 
stage  into  the  metaphysical  stage,  or  belief  in  certain 
propositions  or  technical  definitions  concerning  Him, 

*  Dr.  Hatch:  The  Influence  of  Greek  Ideas  and  Usages  on  the  Christian 
Church,  Lect.  XI. 


240  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

His  nature,  relations,  and  activities.  While  Jesus 
has  been  the  cause  of  more  theologizing  than  all  other 
teachers  put  together,  He  was  the  farthest  possible 
removed  from  being  a  theologizer  Himself.  It  is  the 
absence  of  the  theological  element,  and  the  subordi- 
nation of  the  intellectual  element  to  the  moral  ele- 
y  ment,  that  constitute  in  great  part  the  simplicity,  the 
directness,  the  effectiveness,  and  the  charm  of  Jesus 
considered  as  a  teacher.  The  channels  in  which  His 
teachings  flow  are  never  clogged  up  with  logical  defi- 
nitions and  divisions,  with  metaphysical  subtleties 
and  refinements.  He  assumes  without  argument  the 
fundamental  facts  of  religion,  as  God,  human  free- 
dom, responsibility,  and  immortality;  assumes  them 
so  completely  that  He  never  even  mentions  them  as 
assumptions,  and  then  makes  His  appeal  direct  to  the 
spiritual  intuitions.  The  greatest  mark  of  His 
teaching  is  the  power  with  which  it  takes  hold  of  the 
unconventional,  universal,  spiritual  nature  of  man, 
and  this  is  really  the  ground  of  His  authority,  as  has 
been  shown  in  another  chapter. 

He  will  go  hopelessly  wrong  in  dealing  with  the 
teaching  of  Jesus  who  does  not  grasp  these  funda- 
mental ideas.  Jesus  did  not  make  any  use  whatever 
of  scientific  or  philosophical  truth.  He  relied  upon 
moral  truth,  on  the  simple  substance  of  that,  and  so 
excluded  its  formal  and  intellectual  elements.  He  had 
nothing  to  say  about  learning  and  wisdom,  as  men 
count  learning  and  wisdom,  and  He  pronounced  no 
beatitudes  upon  the  learned  and  wise  more  t-han  upon 
the  rich  and  the  powerful.  He  says  rather:  " Blessed 
are  the  poor  in  spirit;"  "blessed  are  they  that 


HIS  THEORY  OF  TEACHING.  241 

mourn;"  "blessed  are  the  meek;"  * 'blessed  are  they 
that  do  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness;" 
* 'blessed  are  the  merciful;"  "blessed  are  the  pure  in 
heart;"  blessed  are  the  peacemakers;"  "blessed  are 
they  who  are  persecuted  for  righteousness'  sake." 

As  already  intimated,  the  basis  of  Christian  faith 
was  progressively  changed.  Intellectual  conviction 
took  the  place  of  trust  in  a  person.  Three  hundred 
years  sufficed  to  effect  the  transformation  that  Dr. 
Hatch  thus  describes : 

It  is  impossible  for  any  one,  whether  he  be  a  student  of  his- 
tory or  no,  to  fail  to  notice  a  difference  of  both  form  and  con- 
tent between  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  and  the  Nicene  Creed. 
The  Sermon  on  the  Mount  is  the  promulgation  of  a  new  law  of 
conduct ;  it  assumes  beliefs  rather  than  formulates  them ;  the 
theological  conceptions  which  underlie  it  belong  to  the  ethical 
rather  than  to  the  speculative  side  of  theology ;  metaphysics 
are  wholly  absent.  The  Nicene  Creed  is  a  statement  partly  of 
historical  facts  and  partly  of  dogmatic  inferences ;  the  meta- 
physical terms  which  it  contains  would  probably  have  been  un- 
intelligible to  the  first  disciples  ;  ethics  have  no  place  in  it.  The 
one  belongs  to  a  world  of  Syrian  peasants,  the  other  to  a  world 
of  Greek  philosophers.* 

Faith,  then,  is  the  lever  with  which  Jesus  proposed 
to  move  the  world.  There  is  indeed  a  sense  in  which 
faith,  as  a  fully  completed  state  of  mind,  follows, 
and  so  is  conditioned  upon  repentance ;  but  this  is 
not  the  primary  view,  according  to  which  faith  or  be- 
lief leads  to  repentance  and  obedience.  Moreover,  if 
we  were  to  examine  the  repentance  and  obedience  of 
the  Gospels,  we  should  find  that  they  are  as  unlike 
the  repentance  and  obedience  of  the  schools  as  the 

*Lect.  I. 
16 


242  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

faith  of  the  Gospels  is  unlike  the  faith  of  the  schools. 
Every  great  religious  reform  has  been  an  effort  more 
or  less  conscious  and  intelligent  to  cut  loose  from  the 
theological  development,  and  to  move  back  towards 
the  ancient  simplicity  of  Christian  teaching  and  life. 
In  few  things  has  the  Christian  world  made  a  great- 
er mistake  than  in  attaching  an  exaggerated  import- 
ance to  theological  doctrines,  or  to  faith  in  the  spec- 
ulative sense.  The  spiritual  engine  that  moves  the 
life  is  a  very  simple  one.  It  is  not  composed  of  ab- 
stract articles  or  creeds,  of  formal  dogmas  and  defin- 
itions. Moral  conduct  flows  directly  from  the  will, 
which  is  conditioned  upon  the  feelings,  which  again 
depend  upon  the  understanding.  But  this  is  not  the 
whole  understanding.  There  are  many  valuable  facts 
and  truths  lying  in  the  field  of  proper  religious  in- 
struction that  have  little,  if  any,  direct  effect  upon 
the  spiritual  life.  The  fact  is,  the  number  of  truths 
that  immediately  influence  the  conduct  of  the  major- 
ity of  men  is  extremely  small.  DeQuincy  tells  us 
that  in  that  great  social  organ  which,  collectively,  we 
call  literature,  there  may  be  distinguished  two  sepa- 
arate  offices  that  sometimes  blend  and  that  are  some- 
times found  in  a  severe  insulation.  "There  is,  first, 
the  literature  of  knowledge;  and,  secondly,  the  liter- 
ature of  power.  The  function  of  the  first  is — to 
teach ;  the  function  of  the  second  is — to  move :  the 
first  is  a  rudder,  the  second  an  oar  or  a  sail.  The 
first  speaks  to  the  mere  discursive  understanding ;  t'le 
second  speaks  ultimately,  it  may  happen,  to  the 
higher  understanding  or  reason,  but  always  through 
affections  of  pleasure  and  sympathy.  Remotely,  it 


HIS  THEORY  OF  TEACHING.  243 

may  travel  towards  an  object  seated  in  what  Lord 
Bacon  calls  dry  light;  but  proximately  it  does  and 
must  operate,  else  it  ceases  to  be  a  literature  of  power, 
on  and  through  that  humid  light  which  clothes  it- 
self in  the  mists  and  glittering  iris  of  human  pas- 
sions, desires,  and  genial  emotions."  Moral  and  re- 
ligious teaching  must  take  hold  of  the  active  princi- 
ples of  human  nature,  rather  than  of  the  scientific 
understanding;  and  no  intelligent  reader  can  proceed 
far  with  the  Gospels  without  discovering  that  they 
belong  to  the  literature  of  power  rather  than  to  the 
literature  of  knowledge. 

Ethical  religions  are  attended  by  one  danger 
from  which  non-ethical  religions  are  free.  It  is  that 
the  disciple  will  fall  into  ostentation,  hypocrisy,  and 
self-consciousness.  It  is  so  easy  for  the  reformer  to 
advertise  himself  as  one  who  is  reformed.  How 
carefully  Jesus  guards  the  first  two  points,  is  seen  in 
the  passage  in  which  He  commands  His  disciples  to 
take  heed  that  they  do  not  their  alms  before  men, 
to  be  seen  of  them;  that  when  they  do  their 
alms  they  shall  not  sound  a  trumpet  before  them,  as 
the  hypocrites  do  in  the  synagogues  and  in  the  streets, 
that  they  may  have  glory  of  men.  "But  when  thou 
doest  alms,  let  not  thy  left  hand  know  what  thy  right 
handdoeth;  that  thine  alms  may  be  in  secret;  and 
thy  Father  which  seeth  in  secret  Himself  shall  reward 
thee  openly."  Similarly  when  they  pray,  they  shall 
not  be  as  the  hypocrites,  who  love  to  pray  standing 
in  the  synagogues,  and  at  the  corners  of  the  streets, 
that  they  may  be  seen  of  men.  "  But  thou,  when 
thou  prayest,  enter  into  thy  closet,  and  when  thou 


244  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

hast  shut  the  door,  pray  to  thy  Father  which  is  in  se- 
cret; and  thy  Father  which  seeth  in  secret  shall  re- 
ward thee  openly."  Self-consciousness,  which  is  even 
a  more  subtle  danger  than  ostentation,  is  warded  off 
in  another  well-known  passage.  It  is  the  description 
of  the  gathering  of  the  nations  upon  His  right  hand 
and  upon  His  left,  when  He  comes  in  His  glory. 
When  He  says  to  those  on  His  right  hand,  "Come,  ye 
blessed  of  my  Father,  inherit  the  kingdom  prepared 
for  you  from  the  foundation  of  the  world;  for  I  was 
an  hungered,  and  ye  gave  me  meat,"  etc.,  they  make 
answer,  saying,  "Lord,  when  saw  we  thee  an  hungered 
and  fed  thee?  or  thirsty  and  gave  thee  drink?  when 
saw  we  thee  a  stranger  and  took  thee  in?  or  naked 
and  clothed  thee?  or  when  saw  we  thee  sick  or  in 
prison  and  came  unto  thee?"  Here  is  no  claim  of 
worth  or  merit,  nor  even  consciousness  of  good 
desert.  The  plain  implication  is  that  the  good  man  is 
so  intent  upon  living  a  good  life  that  he  does  not  take 
knowledge  of  the  fact  that  he  is  living  one.  Nothing 
could  possibly  be  farther  removed  from  the  ideal  of 
Jesus  than  the  man  who  parades  his  goodness  and  vir- 
tue, unless  it  be  the  man  who  parades  the  correctness 
of  his  religious  views  and  the  soundness  of  his  the- 
ological opinions.  Far  indeed  from  the  spirit  of  the 
Gospel  is  the  vaunt  of  orthodoxy. 

What  has  been  said  about  self-consciousness  is  par- 
ticularly applicable  to  the  subject  of  rewards  and  pen- 
alties. Jesus  promises  heaven  and  threatens  hell,  but 
He  never  commands  men  to  labor  with  the  direct  end 
in  view  of  winning  the  one  or  of  gaining  the  other. 
What  I  conceive  to  be  the  true  function  of  the  re- 


HIS  THEORY  OF  TEACHING.  245 

wards  and  punishments  of  the  Gospel  is  well  stated 
by  Mr.  Ruskin  in  a  passage  which  I  quote. 

The  essential  idea  of  real  virtue  is  that  of  a  vital  human 
strength,  which  instinctively,  constantly,  and  without  motive, 
does  what  is  right.  You  must  train  men  to  this  by  habit,  as 
you  would  the  branch  of  a  tree ;  and  give  them  instincts  and 
manners  (or  morals)  of  purity,  justice,  kindness,  and  courage. 
Once  rightly  trained,  they  act  as  they  should,  irrespectively  of 
all  motive,  of  fear  or  of  reward.  It  is  the  blackest  sign  of 
putrescence  in  a  national  religion ,  when  men  speak  as  if  it  were 
the  only  safeguard  of  conduct;  and  assume  that,  but  for  the 
fear  of  being  burned,  or  for  the  hope  of  being  rewarded,  every- 
body would  pass  their  lives  in  lying,  stealing,  and  murdering. 
I  think  quite  one  of  the  notablest  historical  events  of  this  cen- 
tury (perhaps  the  very  notablest)  was  that  council  of  clergy- 
men, horror-struck  at  the  idea  of  any  diminution  in  our  dread 
of  hell,  at  which  the  last  of  English  clergymen  whom  one 
would  have  expected  to  see  in  such  a  function,  rose  as  the 
devil's  advocate  to  tell  us  how  impossible  it  was  we  could  get 
on  without  him.  [Men]  should  be  afraid  of  doing  wrong,  and 

of  that  only Otherwise,  if  they  only  don't  do 

wrong  for  fear  of  being  punished,  they  have  done  wrong  in 
their  hearts  already.  [God]  never  would  be  pleased  with  us  if 
[our  desire  to  please  Him  should  be  our  first  motive] .  When  a 
father  sends  his  son  out  into  the  world — suppose  an  apprentice — 
fancy  the  boy's  coming  home  at  night,  and  saying,  '  'Father,  I 
could  have  robbed  the  till  to-day,  but  I  didn't,  because  I 
thought  you  wouldn't  like  it."  Do  you  think  the  father 
would  be  particularly  pleased?  He  would  answer,  would  he 
not,  if  he  were  wise  and  good,  ' '  My  boy,  though  you  had  no 
father,  you  must  not  rob  tills?"  And  nothing  is  ever  done  so 
as  really  to  please  our  Great  Father,  unless  we  would  also  have 
done  it,  though  we  had  no  Father  to  know  of  it.  And  how  vain 
both  [threatenings  and  rewards]  with  the  Jews,  and  with  all 
of  us  1  But  the  fact  is ,  that  the  threat  and  promise  are  simply 
statements  of  the  Divine  Law,  and  of  its  consequences.  The 
fact  is  truly  told  you ,  — make  what  use  you  may  of  it ;  and  as 
collateral  warning,  or  encouragement,  or  comfort,  the  knowl- 


246  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

edge  of  future  consequences  may  often  be  helpful  to  us;  but 
helpful  chiefly  to  the  better  state  when  we  can  act  without 
reference  to  them.  And  there  is  no  measuring  the  poisoned  in- 
fluence of  that  notion  of  future  reward  on  the  mind  of  Christian 
Europe  in  the  early  ages.  Half  the  monastic  system  rose  out  of 
that,  acting  on  the  occult  pride  and  ambition  of  good  people 
(as  the  other  half  of  it  came  out  of  their  follies  and  misfortunes) . , 
There  is  always  a  considerable  quantity  of  pride ,  to  begin  with , 
in  what  is  called  '  'giving  ourself  to  God.  "  As  if  we  had  ever 
belonged  to  anybody  else.  * 

In  the  place  that  Jesus  expects  self-forgetfulness  to 
occupy,  self-consciousness  is  often  found.  When 
humility  takes  account  of  itself,  it  ceases  to  be  hu- 
mility. It  has  been  said  that  whether  honesty  is  the 
best  policy  or  not,  depends  upon  the  condition  of  the 
police;  also,  that  the  man  who  is  honest  because  it 
is  the  best  policy,  is  at  least  half  a  rogue. 

*  The  Ethics  of  the  Dust.  The  passage  is  changed  from  the  dialogue 
form  to  the  didactic  form. 


Cbe  flDafcing  of  tbe  IRew  Testament. 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 


CHAPTER  I. 

OBJECT   AND    POINT    OF   VIEW    STATED. 

BEFORE  entering  upon  the  general  subject  an- 
nounced above,  I  must  first  state  my  object  and  de- 
fine my  point  of  view. 

My  object  is  to  explain  the  main  causes  that  led  to 
the  writing  of  the  books  of  The  New  Testament,  the 
general  conditions  under  which  they  were  written, 
and,  particularly,  the  processes  by  which  they  were 
preserved,  verified,  and  finally  brought  together  into 
the  collection  called  The  New  Testament  Canon. 
This  I  shall  attempt  with  an  audience  of  plain  peo- 
ple all  the  time  in  mind,  and  not  an  audience  of  schol- 
ars. The  facts,  of  course,  are  the  same  in  either  case, 
but  the  statement  that  would  best  suit  the  one  might 
not  best  suit  the  other. 

My  point  of  view  is  that  of  history  pure  and  simple. 
I  shall  treat  the  writings  that  make  up  The  New  Tes- 
tament as  literature -in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  word, 
and  shall  handle  them  just  as  though  no  claim  of 
Divine  inspiration  had  ever  been  made  in  their  behalf. 

This  is  not  because  I  do  not  believe  in  their  inspira- 

(249) 


250         THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

tion,  but  because,  first,  inspiration  is  rather  a  theolog- 
ical than  a  historical  question,  and  because,  second, 
there  are  manifest  advantages  in  sometimes  treating 
these  writings  from  a  strictly  human  point  of  view. 
In  some  ways,  it  is  a  fresher  and  more  interesting  line 
of  study.  The  habit  of  denying  or  belittling  what  is 
called  the  "human  element"  in  The  New  Testament — 
the  habit  of  denying  or  ignoring  the  fact  that  these 
writings  are,  after  all,  the  works  of  their  authors — the 
habit  of  separating  them  from  all  other  writings,  and, 
in  a  word,  of  refusing  them  a  place  in  real  literature — 
tends  to  rob  them  of  their  human  interest,  and  to 
place  them  in  a  region  transcending  ordinary  experi- 
ence. 

The  method  of  some  apologists  cannot  be  too  much 
reprehended.  They  start  out  on  the  historical  path ; 
the  Scriptures  are  to  be  handled,  they  say,  like  other 
books;  but  when  the  facts  become  few  or  uncertain, 
and  the  path  obscure,  they  fall  back  upon  the  assump- 
tions of  inspiration  and  providential  oversight,  thus 
bringing  into  the  argument  as  a  premise  what  should 
be  left  as  the  conclusion.  This  is  reasoning  in  a  cir- 
cle, and  a  small  circle  at  that.  The  end  of  Apologet- 
ics— of  what  we  call  Christian  Evidences — is  the  value 
of  the  Christian  Writings ;  and  the  apologist  is  untrue 
to  his  work  who  brings  in  that  end  to  help  him  out 
in  the  argument.  The  Scriptures  have  so  long  been 
accorded  prescriptive  rights,  that  it  is  hard  for  many 
who  receive  them  to  realize  that  they  must  be  sub- 
jected to  the  same  historical  and  critical  tests  as  other 
similar  books. 

To  define  my  point  of  view  more  closely,  we  will 


OBJECT  AND  POINT  OF  VIEW  STATED.  251 

suppose  that  Socrates  wrote  nothing,  but  gave  his 
teachings  to  the  world  in  oral  words  (which  is  a  true 
supposition)  ;  that  his  principal  disciples  went  forth 
after  his  death  to  teach  men  their  master's  sayings 
and  doings;  that  some  of  those  who  had  a  perfect 
understanding  of  all  things  from  the  first,  some  years 
later,  wrote  accounts  of  his  life,  which  accounts  by  and 
by  became  the  accepted  and  revered  originals  of  their 
doctrine  and  practice;  that  one  of  their  number 
wrote  a  partial  history  of  his  own  teaching  and  ex- 
perience; that  these  disciples,  in  carrying  on  their 
work,  found  it  expedient  and  necessary  to  write  let- 
ters to  the  disciples  whom  they  made,  for  their 
further  instruction  and  guidance;  that  these  teachers 
founded  a  widely-extended  Socratic  Society  or  fellow- 
ship, extending  to  many  cities  and  countries,  the 
whole  bound  together  by  a  common  doctrine,  a  com- 
mon work,  and  a  common  sympathy;  that  they  left 
in  this  Society  or  fellowship  a  well-defined  and  well- 
established  Socratic  tradition,  one  part  of  which  was 
their  own  writings;  that,  after  their  death,  the  ex- 
panding society,  guided  by  its  best  lights,  collected 
these  writings,  thus  forming  a  body  of  Socratic  Me- 
morials, which  received  the  sanction  of  the  body  as 
genuine  and  authentic; — suppose  all  these  things,  and 
then  add  the  further  supposition  that,  many  centuries 
later,  the  origin  of  the  Socratic  discipline  and  socie- 
ty, and  its  earliest  literary  monuments,  are  brought 
under  discussion,  and  we  have  an  inquiry  exactly 
like  the  method  that  I  intend  to  make. 

Manifestly  this  is  an  attempt  to  get  back  among  the 
original  facts  of  our  religion.     To  succeed  in  this  at- 


TT) 


252         THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

tempt  even  measurably  is  not  easy,  but  difficult,  owing 
to  a  number  of  facts  that  are  often  overlooked.  One 
is  our  remoteness  from  the  country  and  the  time  in 
which  these  facts  are  found.  A  second  is  our  feeble 
power  of  reproducing  scenes  and  events  so  different 
from  those  that  make  up  modern  Western  life.  Still  a 
third  is  the  enormous  change  that  has  passed  over  the 
Christian  religion  and  Church  since  the  first  century. 
For  example,  we  Protestants  are  accustomed  to  find 
our  religion  in  a  book;  our  Christianity  claims  to  be 
the  religion  of  The  New  Testament;  while  Christianity 
began  with  persons  and  with  oral  teaching,  and  no 
writings  are  found,  much  less  a  Testament,  until  the 
Gospel  had  made  considerable  progress.  We  shall 
wholly  fail  in  our  attempt,  therefore,  unless  we  lay 
aside  some  of  our  most  familiar  religious  and  eccles- 
iastical ideas,  and  restore,  by  the  historical  imagina- 
tion, forms  and  figures  and  facts  that  live  only  in  the 
memorials  of  a  distant  and  almost  perished  world. 

A  still  further  observation  should  be  offered.  Full 
treatment  of  the  subject  is  not  contemplated.  Only 
those  facts  will  be  presented  that  are  essential  to  a 
good  understanding  of  the  matter.  My  aim  is  not, 
properly  speaking,  to  present  even  an  outline  of 
Christian  Evidences,  so  called ;  it  is  rather  to  help  the 
reader  to  see — to  imagine,  if  you  will — the  processes 
that  are  summed  up  in  the  phrase,  "Making  of  The 
New  Testament."  Unfortunately,  the  part  that  the 
imagination  plays  in  history,  not  to  speak  of  argumen- 
tation, is  not  properly  understood.  How  it  is  erro- 
neously resorted  to  as  a  source  of  facts  or  information, 
we  may  all  understand ;  but  we  do  not  always  see  its 


OBJECT  AND  POINT  OF  VIEW  STATED.  253 

great  value  as  an  instrument  of  arrangement  and 
interpretation.  History  does  not  become  real  to  us 
unless  the  facts  presented  are  such  as  we  can  distinctly 
perceive,  and  unless  their  organization  into  a  story  is 
such  as  we  can  clearly  imagine.  Much  the  same  may 
be  said  of  argument.  The  office  of  the  imagination 
in  logic  is  even  less  understood  than  in  history. 
Why  this  is  so,  has  been  made  plain  upon  earlier 
pages.  Here,  as  always,  the  mind  imposes  upon  the 
subject-matter  its  own  ways  of  looking  at  things,  and 
so  its  own  limitations.  Accordingly,  the  Christian 
Writings  have  nothing  to  lose,  but  everything  to  gain, 
by  being  brought  into  the  closest  possible  connection 
with  the  facts  of  human  experience.  I  shall  make 
no  attempt  at  delicate  strokes  or  careful  painting; 
my  hope  is  rather  that  I  may  throw  upon  the  canvas 
a  half  dozen  outline  pictures  marked  by  boldness, 
clearness,  and  verisimilitude. 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE   MINISTRY    OF   JESUS. 

FORTUNATELY,  the  most  important  facts  concern- 
ing the  origin  of  those  doctrines,  institutions,  influ- 
ences, and  tendencies  that  make  up  Christianity  and 
the  Christian  Church  are  wholly  free  from  dispute. 
It  is  not  denied  or  doubted  that  the  founder  was  a 
Jew  named  Jesus,  Christ,  and  Jesus  Christ;  that  He 
lived  in  Palestine  in  the  first  years  of  the  Christian 
era,  which  was  named  for  Him  and  begins  with  the 
supposed  year  of  His  birth;  that,  after  a  public  minis- 
try of  a  few  years  devoted  to  teaching  and  good  deeds, 
He  came  to  His  death  in  Jerusalem;  and  that  He 
created  and  left  behind  Him  a  small  body  of  disciples 
charged  with  instructions  to  carry  on  the  work  that 
He  had  begun.  It  is  agreed  that  He  originated  the 
first  Christian  teaching,  that  He  founded  the  first 
Christian  society,  and  that  He  breathed  into  the  world 
the  Christian  spirit. 

But  this  ground  has  been  traversed  in  the  previous 
chapters  of  this  volume  entitled,  JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 
If  the  reader  will  turn  back  to  the  first  of  those  chap- 
ters, and  mentally  bring  it  into  this  place,  we  shall 

then  be  ready  to  go  forward.     The  ministry  of  Jesus  is 

(254) 


THE  MINISTRY  OF  JESUS.  255 

the  only  standpoint  from  which  we  can  profitably  con- 
sider the  making  of  The  New  Testament.  In  particu- 
lar, must  the  reader  remember  that  Jesus  wrote  noth- 
ing, that  He  left  no  books  or  memorials  behind  Him, 
that  He  was  purely  an  oral  teacher,  and  that  no  re- 
ports of  His  words  and  works  were  reduced  to  writ- 
ing until  many  years  after  His  death. 

The  remarks  made  in  the  first  of  the  above  para- 
graphs do  not  mean,  of  course,  that  anything  ap- 
proaching absolute  unanimity  has  been  reached  con- 
cerning the  origin,  truth,  and  value  of  the  Christian 
religion.  Only  this  is  asserted — that  there  is  substan- 
tial unanimity  as  to  the  existence  of  Jesus,  and  the 
emanation  of  the  Christian  movement  from  Him. 
Once  it  was  the  fashion  for  those  who  rejected  Chris- 
tianity to  reject  it  altogether.  The  reality  of  Jesus 
was  denied,  or  that  he  was  an  impostor  was  asserted. 
These  old  and  crude  theories  have  given  away  to  new 
ones  that  are  more  refined.  It  is  not  now  the  fashion 
to  deny  the  reality  of  the  Founder,  or  to  attribute  to 
Him  deliberate  imposture.  The  most  noteworthy 
theories  of  recent  years  are  the  myth,  propounded  by 
Strauss,  and  the  legend  propounded  byRenan;  and 
both  of  these  concede  that  at  the  heart  of  The  New 
Testament  there  lies  a  large  mass  of  undeniable  fact 
and  truth. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   PREACHING    OF   THE   APOSTLES. 

FEW  things  in  the  life  of  Jesus  are  more  significant 
than  the  calm  confidence  with  which  He  looked  to 
the  future.  To  prepare  for  that  future,  He  gave 
good  heed.  From  the  days  immediately  follow- 
ing His  baptism,  we  hear  of  His  disciples.  The 
abandonment  of  John  the  Baptist  by  John  and  An- 
drew, and  their  cleaving  to  Jesus,  was  a  part  of  the 
"decrease"  of  the  old  preacher,  and  of  the  "in- 
crease" of  the  new  one,  which  John  himself  foretold. 
Fluctuating  as  were  his  fortunes,  there  was  always  a 
number  of  true  disciples  whenever  "went  away;"  and 
this  group  served  as  a  nucleus  for  a  larger  and  less 
stable  body,  goers  and  comers,  whose  relation  to  the 
Teacher  was  determined  by  a  variety  of  influences. 
Within  this  company  of  true  disciples  was  gradually 
formed  the  band  called  "The  Twelve"  and  "The 
Apostles,"  who  were  marked  out  for  their  particular 
work  by  their  relative  fitness,  as  well  as  by  their  Mas- 
ter's choice.  To  them  He  gave  constant  attention. 
He  taught  his  disciples:  "The  Comforter  .  .  shall 
teach  you  all  things,  and  bring  all  things  to  your  re- 
membrance ;"  "Go  ye,  therefore,  and  make  disciples 

of  all  the  nations  .  .  .  teaching  them  to  observe  all 

(256) 


THE  PREACHING  OF  THE  APOSTLES.  257 

things  whatsoever  I  have  commanded  you;"  "Go  ye 
into  all  the  world,  and  preach  the  Gospel  to  every 
creature."  Before  they  went  out,  however,  under 
this  commission,  the  Apostles  had  already  done  some 
preaching.  The  Twelve  had  made  a  trial  mission 
under  the  commission,  "As  ye  go,  preach;"*  and  the 
Seventy  had,  at  a  later  day,  executed  a  similar  com- 
mand.! These  earlier  commissions  had  been  carried 
out  under  the  Master's  eye ;  on  their  return  those  who 
were  sent  "told  Him  all  that  they  had  done."  The 
time  finally  came  for  the  Apostles  to  act  under  their 
final  and  larger  commission. 

In  one  particular  The  Acts  of  the  Apostles  reads 
like  the  Gospels :  it  is  a  record  of  teaching,  preaching, 
and  exhortation.  The  Apostles  "  entered  into  the 
temple  about  daybreak,  and  taught;"  "And  every 
day,  in  the  Temple  and  at  home,  they  ceased  not  to 
teach  and  to  preach;"  "Philip  went  down  to  the  city 
of  Samaria,  and  preached  Christ  unto  them."  Peter 
and  John,  after  testifying  and  speaking  the  word  of 
the  Lord  in  Samaria,  "preached  the  Gospel  to  many 
villages  of  the  Samaritans."  Philip  preached  to  the 
eunuch,  as  they  rode  in  the  eunuch's  chariot.  After- 
wards the  same  evangelist  preached  in  all  the  cities 
from  Azotus  to  Caesarea.  Saul  proclaimed  Jesus  in 
the  synagogue  of  Damascus.  At  Csesarea,  in  the 
house  of  Cornelius,  Peter  referred  to  the  publication 
of  the  good  tidings  that  was  made  by  Jesus  through- 
out all  Judaea,  beginning  from  Galilee;  and  declared 
that  the  same  Jesus  had  charged  His  disciples  to  tes- 

*  Mark  ix.  30;  John  xiv.  20;  Matt,  xxviii.  20;  Markxvi.  15. 
f  Matt.  x.  7;  Luke  x.  1. 
17 


258        THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

tify  unto  the  people.  Certain  disciples  who  went  to 
Antioch,  after  the  martyrdom  of  Stephen,  spoke  unto 
the  Greeks  of  Antio.ch,  and  preached.  And  later 
Barnabas  and  Saul  met  with  the  church  of  the  same 
city  for  a  whole  year,  and  taught  much  people.  They 
also  preached  in  Antioch,  Lystra,  Derbe,  and  Perga, 
cities  of  Asia  Minor.  A  second  time  they  tarried  in 
the  Syrian  Antioch,  teaching  and  preaching.  Paul 
dwelt  a  year  and  a  half  in  Corinth,  and  taught. 
Apollos  spake  and  taught  in  Ephesus.  In  the  same 
city,  Paul  "went  into  the  synagogue,  and  spake  boldly 
for  the  space  of  three  months,  disputing  and  persuad- 
ing;" he  "declared  unto  the  people  all  things  that 
were  profitable  for  them,  and  taught  publicly,  and  from 
house  to  house."  The  Acts  closes  in  a  way  to  recall 
most  impressively  the  giving  of  the  commission. 
"And  Paul  dwelt  two  whole  years  in  his  own  hired 
house, and  received  all  that  came  in  unto  him, preaching 
the  kingdom  of  God,  and  teaching  those  things  which 
concern  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  with  all  confidence, 
no  man  forbidding  him."*  The  Epistles  reflect  a 
similar  testimony.  The  Apostles  preached,  taught, 
spoke,  bore  witness,  testified,  disputed,  and  exhorted 
The  great  impulse  that  Jesus  originated  thus  moves 
on  with  undiminished  power. 

Attention  has  been  drawn  to  the  important  fact 
that  Jesus  was  an  oral  teacher,  and  not  a  writer  of 
books.  He  spoke,  He  did  not  write.  The  Apostles 
come  before  us  in  the  same  way.  They  did  indeed 
write  books,  as  we  shall  soon  see,  but  no  trace  of  the 

*  The  Acts,  v.  2;  v.  42;  viii.  3;  viii.  33;  viii.  40;  ix.  20;  x.  37,  42;  xi.  20; 
xi.  26;  xiii.  13,  14;  xiv.  7,  11,  25;  xv.  35;  xviii.  11;  xviii.  25;  xix.  8;  xx.  20; 
xxviii.  30,  31. 


THE  PREACHING  OF  THE  APOSTLES.  259 

fact  is  found  in  The  Acts.  It  is  never  said  that  at 
Antioch,  or  Perga,  or  Berea,  Paul  wrote  an  epistle. 
This  silence  may  be  due  in  part  to  the  brevity  of  the 
record,  but  it  also  well  comports  with  the  character 
of  the  Apostles'  work.  Their  great  office  was  preach- 
ing. Bossuet  caught  this  characteristic  feature  of 
the  original  Gospel  when  he  said  in  his  famous  "Ex- 
position," "Christ  Jesus  laid  the  foundation  of  the 
Church  upon  the  authority  of  preaching."  De  Pres- 
sense  caught  the  same  when  he  said,  "All  the  expres- 
sions employed  in  The  New  Testament  to  designate 
the  proclamation  of  the  new  truth,  set  aside  the 
notion  of  written  documents;"  "The  Gospel  was  at 
first  nothing  but  the  proclamation  of  the  good  news 
of  pardon  flying  from  mouth  to  mouth."  The  thing 
preached  is  the  Word:  Christ  Himself  is  the  Word. 
It  pleases  God  by  the  foolishness  of  preaching  to  save 
them  that  believe.  The  Gospel  is  good  tidings,  pub- 
lished, proclaimed;  a  word  spoken  and  heard.  The 
agents  in  doing  the  work  are  heralds,  proclaimers, 
teachers,  preachers.  It  is  as  though  the  glad  tidings 
were  too  glad  to  wait  upon  a  slower  messenger  than 
the  loving  voice  and  a  personal  herald.  Emphasis  is 
laid  upon  this  fact  because  it  is  such  an  important  one 
in  the  history  of  the  primitive  Church. 

It  is  impossible  for  a  careful  student  whose  eyes  are 
not  blinded  by  preconceived  opinions  to  pass  from  the 
Gospels  to  The  Acts  without  observing  striking  dif- 
ferences. I  do  not  now  refer  to  those  differences  that 
mark  the  fuller  development  of  the  Christian  faith 
and  institutions,  but  to  changes  of  a  more  significant 
character. 


260         THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

The  record  of  Jesus  is  much  fuller  than  the  record 
of  the  Apostles.  He  was  one,  they  many;  He 
preached  in  Judaea  only,  they  all  over  the  Roman 
world;  He  crowded  His  work  into  three  or  four  years, 
they  filled  a  whole  generation  with  theirs :  and  yet 
there  are  four  Gospels  and  one  Acts  of  the  Apostles. 
Concerning  Him  we  have,  considering  the  times,  an 
abundance  of  interesting  detail;  concerning  them, 
with  the  exception  of  two  or  three  of  the  most  im- 
portant, we  know  almost  nothing.  Of  no  Apostle 
save  Paul  is  it  possible  to  write  an  extended  life,  and 
it  is  possible  in  his  case  largely  because  he  has  himself 
left  such  full  literary  memorials.  This  disparity  in 
our  knowledge  is  perfectly  natural.  The  theologian 
will  justify  it  with  an  abundance  of  arguments;  but 
he  may  not  include  among  them  the  great  superiority 
of  Jesus  to  any  and  all  of  His  disciples.  Such  is, 
nevertheless,  the  plain,  literal  fact.  The  old  theory 
of  inspiration  tends  to  equalize  in  men's  minds  the 
various  parts  of  the  Bible;  while  if  they  would  cut 
loose  from  that  theory,  and  study  Scripture  more  from 
the  human  point  of  view,  they  could  not  fail  to  rec- 
ognize the  fact  that  inspiration  is  a  thing  of  degrees, — 
could  not  fail  to  see  that  there  are  great  differences 
as  respects  the  forms  of  discourse,  the  elevation  of 
language,  and '  the  depth  and  fullness  of  thought. 
Such  are  the  differences  that  we  notice  in  passing 
from  the  Gospels  to  The  Acts:  a  little  space  will  be 
given  to  their  exposition. 

First,  the  disciples  are  much  more  limited  and  con- 
fined in  forms  of  discourse  than  their  Master.  In  the 
transition  we  see  at  once  that  the  parable  has  wholly 


THE  PREACHING  OF  THE  APOSTLES.  261 

disappeared.  We  never  read  of  an  Apostle,  "A  para- 
ble spake  he  unto  them."  When  we  consider  the 
admirable  adaptation  of  the  parable,  in  the  hand  of 
Jesus,  to  the  ends  of  religious  instruction;  when  we 
remember  how  much  of  His  noblest  and  most  charac- 
teristic teaching  is  conveyed  in  that  form,  we  cannot 
fail  to  see  how  great  a  loss  its  disappearance  implies. 
Moreover,  the  proverb,  or  sententious  maxim — the 
gnomic  wisdom — in  which  the  longer  discourses  of 
Jesus  so  abound,  can  hardly  be  detected  in  The  Acts  of 
the  Apostles.  Of  disputation,  there  is  an  abundance ; 
but  there  is  slight  trace  of  that  method  of  question- 
ing which  Jesus  handled  with  such  mastery.  Familiar 
preaching  survives;  there  is  still  teaching  in  homes 
as  well  as  in  synagogues  and  in  the  Temple;  there  is 
preaching  from  house  to  house  as  well  as  in  public 
places;  but  The  Acts  furnish  few  glimpses  of  that 
admirable  conversational  eloquence  which  gives  the 
Gospels  so  much  of  their  charm  and  power.  No 
doubt  the  scantiness  of  the  record  here  has  something 
to  answer  for,  but  it  does  not  account  for  the  full  dif- 
ference. It  is  undeniable  that  the  preaching  of  The 
Acts  has  more  of  the  forensic  tone,  more  of  the  tone 
of  the  public  assembly,  and  less  of  prophetic  author- 
ity. 

Secondly,  this  difference  reaches  beyond  power  and 
methods  to  substance.  The  teachings  of  Jesus  have 
more  freedom,  more  spontaneity,  more  depth  and  full- 
ness. His  teachings  are  the  teachings  of  a  creator 
and  master.  They  are  new  and  original  utterances. 
Jesus  indeed  used  old  methods  and  old  materials, 
since  preaching  righteousness  is  ever  much  the  same, 


262         THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

but  He  so  used  them  as  to  stamp  Him  a  great  original. 
Those  who  witnessed  His  work  wondered  how  He 
could  do  the  things  that  He  did,  having  never  learned. 
They  thought  that  study,  learning,  scholarship,  are 
the  great  matters,  as  indeed  they  sometimes  are;  they 
did  not  grasp  the  idea  of  a  teacher  standing  so  close 
to  truth,  to  life,  and  to  God,  that  he  spoke  of  an 
original  knowledge.  But  it  was  this  very  quality  of 
His  teaching  that  constitutes  the  "authority"  that  so 
astonished  the  multitude.  With  authority  the  Jews 
were  familiar  enough,  but  not  with  such  authority  as 
this.  Their  Scribes  taught  with  the  authority  of 
theological  learning  and  ecclesiastical  position;  Je- 
sus taught  with  the  authority  that  comes  from  look- 
ing into  the  open  vision  of  truth  and  seeing  the  heart 
of  things.  He  read  character  and  life  in  the  same 
way.  He  knew  all  men;  He  needed  not  that  any 
should  testify  of  man,  for  He  knew  what  was  in  man. 
It  is  indeed  written  that  He  read  and  quoted  the 
Scriptures,  and  commented  upon  them;  but  it  should 
be  said  that  He  read  and  quoted  as  a  matter  of  ac- 
commodation to  His  hearers,  and  that  He  rarely  read 
or  quoted  that  He  did  not,  by  his  manner,  arrange- 
ment, or  comment,  throw  new  and  unexpected  mean- 
ing into  old  texts.  He  who  needed  not  that  any 
should  testify  of  man,  needed  not  that  any  should  tes- 
tify of  truth.  Such  is  the  note  of  His  teaching;  it  is 
not  the  note  of  study  or  preparation,  but  of  intuition. 
But  the  common  note  of  the  Apostolic  teaching  is 
very  different.  It  is  the  note  of  the  learner,  and  not 
of  the  master.  The  Apostolic  teaching  lacks  the 
boldness  and  confidence  that  are  so  characteristic  of 


THE  PREACHDsG  OF  THE  APOSTLES.  263 

Jesus.  There  is  a  certain  imitation  that,  as  well  as 
their  own  constant  profession,  proclaims  them  disci- 
ples. Compare,  for  example,  the  Pentecostal  sermon 
with  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  The  second  need 
not  be  again  characterized;  but  the  first  is  an  argu- 
ment, a  logical  discourse,  constituted  by  binding  to- 
gether with  appropriate  comment  old  texts,  and  sup- 
plementing them  with  declarations  of  fact  based  on 
personal  testimony.  Its  conclusion  is,  "Know  ye 
therefore" — in  consequence  of  this  reasoning  and  tes- 
timony— "that  God  hath  made  this  same  Jesus  both 
Lord  and  Christ." 

Reviewing  these  points  of  difference,  I  see  no  rea- 
son to  dissent  from  these  words  of  Renan:  "Far 
from  having  been  created  by  His  disciples,  Jesus  ap- 
pears in  all  things  superior  to  His  disciples."  Hence 
the  great  superiority  of  the  Gospels  among  the  writ- 
ings of  The  New  Testament.  Dr.  Neander  calls  the 
abrupt  transition  from  the  Apostles  to  the  Apostolic 
Fathers  "a  phenomenon  singular  in  its  kind."  "In 
other  cases,"  he  says,  "transitions  are  wont  to  be 
gradual;  but  in  this  instance  we  observe  a  sudden 
change.  There  are  here  no  gentle  gradations,  but  all 
at  once  an  abrupt  transition  from  one  style  of  lan- 
guage to  another;  a  phenomenon  which  should  lead 
us  to  acknowledge  the  fact  of  a  special  agency  of  the 
Divine  Spirit  in  the  souls  of  the  Apostles."*  This  is 
all  very  true.  In  fact,  the  great  historian  might  have 
marked  a  similar  transition  in  tone  and  substance. 
But  there  is  an  earlier  transition,  though  one  easier 
and  less  precipitate ;  the  transition  from  Jesus  to  the 

*  History  of  the  Christian  Religion  and  Church,  Vol.  I. ,  pp.  656,  657. 


264        THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

Apostles.  If  the  latter  change  points  to  a  special 
agency  of  the  Divine  Spirit  in  the  souls  of  the  Apos- 
tles, the  earlier  one  must  point  to  a  closer  relation  of 
Jesus  to  the  unseen  and  the  spiritual  world.  And 
this  is  what  Jesus  and  the  Apostles  all  tell  us.  He  is 
Master,  they  disciples. 

As  preparatory  to  the  next  step  forward,  it  will  be 
well  to  restate  these  two  facts : 

1.  The  Apostles  were  teachers  and  preachers,  like 
their  Master. 

2.  They  depended  in  the  first  place,  as  He  did  al- 
together, upon  oral  discourses. 

The  nature  of  the  primitive  preaching — the  sources 
whence  it  was  drawn,  and  from  which  it  derived  its 
authority,  its  method,  its  relation  to  The  New  Testa- 
ment writings — are  topics  that  will  receive  attention  in 
the  next  two  chapters.  For  the  present  it  will  suffice 
to  say  that,  whereas  we  go  to  The  New  Testament  to 
find  the  sermons  of  the  Apostles  and  of  Jesus,  we  go 
to  the  sermons  themselves  to  find  the  origins  of  The 
New  Testament. 


-HE        **" 

"CTKIVERSITY 


CHAFER  IV. 

THE    EPISTLES. 

IN  the  preceding  chapters  it  has  been  shown  that 
oral  preaching  and  teaching  were  the  source  of  histor- 
ical Christianity, — that  our  religion  originated  in  the 
spoken  words  of  Jesus.  There  is  not,  either  in  the 
Gospels  or  in  The  Acts,  a  trace  or  an  intimation 
that  any  other  instrument  or  agency  would  be  employed 
in  spreading  the  faith,  the  use  of  The  Old  Testament 
in  preaching  to  the  Jews  always  excepted.  Jesus  wrote 
no  books,  He  said  nothing  to  His  disciples  about  writ- 
ing books.  He  told  them  to  go  and  preach.  Excluding 
the  short  epistle  quoted  in  Chapter  XV.,  and  the  ref- 
erence to  the  "former  treatise"  made  in  the  introduc- 
tion, I  recall  nothing  in  The  Acts  that  shows  that  any 
Apostle  or  evangelist  ever  wrote  a  single  word.  But 
while  the  Gospel  began  with  preaching,  it  did  not,  and 
could  not,  long  continue  in  that  exclusive  form .  Books 
were  a  necessary  outgrowth  of  the  second  half  of  the 
Apostolic  Age.  Except  the  short  one  just  referred 
to,  there  is  no  epistle  now  extant  that  antedates  the 
year  50.  At  least,  Dean  Howson  holds  that  our  oldest 
epistle  (so-called)  is  the  First  Thessalonians,  and  that 
it  was  written  at  Corinth,  in  Paul's  second  missionary 

(265) 


266         THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

journey,  in  the  year  52.*  There  had  now  been  twenty 
years  of  continuous  preaching.  Hitherto  writings 
were  uncalled  for,  and  would  have  been  out  of  place; 
now  they  are  urgently  needed,  and  are  the  most  natu- 
ral things  in  the  world.  Let  us  glance  at  what  had 
been  accomplished  up  to  this  time. 

The  Gospel  had  passed  beyond  Jerusalem  to  Judaea, 
beyond  Judaea  to  Samaria,  beyond  Samaria  to  Syria, 
beyond  Syria  to  Asia  Minor,  and  beyond  Asia  Minor 
to  Macedonia,  Greece,  and  Italy.  Jerusalem,  Samaria, 
Caesarea,  Antioch,  Philippi,  Thessalonica,  Athens, 
Corinth,  and  scores  of  other  places,  great  and  small, 
had  received  the  new  religion.  The  wide  field  stretch- 
ing from  Antioch  to  Corinth  may  be  called  Paul's  field. 
Within  this  field,  disciples  multiplied  and  labor  in- 
creased. The  conquests  made  must  be  held,  and  new 
conquests  must  be  won.  Both  of  these  objects,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  discipline  of  believers,  made  the  organ- 
ization of  local  societies  necessary,  and  these,  again, 
called  for  ministers.  The  nature  of  the  Apostolic 
office,  as  well  as  the  number  of  congregations,  pre- 
vented the  Apostle  himself  from  doing  this  work. 
Local  ministers  must  be  provided.  Accordingly,  from 
the  time  that  Paul  made  his  first  missionary  journey 
into  Southern  Asia  Minor,  we  read  of  such  ministers. 
One  class  were  called  elders,  bishops,  and  pastors, 
indifferently;  another  class  were  called  deacons. 
Moreover,  there  grew  up  around  Paul  a  group  of  able 
and  active  young  ministers  called  evangelists,  whom 
we  may  think  of  as  lieutenants  or  sub-apostles,  some 
of  them  in  immediate  attendance  upon  himself,  and 

*  Life  and  Travels  of  St.  Paul,  Chap.  xi. 


THE  EPISTLES.  267 

some  on  detached  duty.  These  helpers,  again,  ap- 
pointed pastors  and  deacons.  All  this  time,  remem- 
ber, oral  teaching  was  the  sole  reliance,  not  only  for 
evangelization,  but  also  for  Christian  discipline.  But 
all  these  ministers  together  could  not  accomplish  the 
work  that  needed  to  be  done.  The  calls  for  help  that 
came  up  from  every  quarter  were  more  than  Paul  and 
his  helpers  could  respond  to.  In  one  way,  the  em- 
ployment of  bishops  and  evangelists  even  added  to  his 
work  and  responsibility,  since  these  ministers  needed 
to  be  instructed  in  their  peculiar  duties.  Witness  the 
letters  to  Timothy  and  Titus. 

As  we  have  seen,  the  primitive  Gospel  was  orally 
delivered  and  orally  transmitted;  it  was  a  tradition  in 
the  original  sense  of  that  word.  This  is  true  of  the 
lessons  taught  by  Jesus;  He  delivered  them  orally, 
and  they  were  orally  repeated.  But  the  preaching  of 
the  Apostles  covered  more  ground  than  that  of  Jesus. 
Their  preaching  consisted  in  telling  what  Jesus  had 
done  and  suffered  and  who  He  was,  as  well  as  in  repeat- 
ing the  lessons  that  He  had  taught  them.  To  a  great 
degree  their  sermons  were  narratives,  their  preaching 
story-telling.  They  told  the  things  that  they  had  seen, 
as  well  as  the  things  that  they  had  heard.*  They 
spoke  of  Jesus,  who  went  about  doing  good,  and  offer- 
ed themselves  as  witnesses  of  all  things  which  He  did 
both  in  the  country  of  the  Jews  and  in  Jerusalem,  f 
One  of  them  described  their  work  more  fully:  4'That 
which  was  from  the  beginning,  which  we  have  heard, 
which  we  have  seen  with  our  eyes,  which  we  have  look- 
ed upon,  and  our  hands  handled,  of  the  word  of  life; 

*  Acts  iv.  20.    f  Ibid,  x.  38,39. 


268         THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

.  .  .  that  which  we  have  seen  and  heard,  declare  we 
unto  you."*  Those  who  were  not  able  to  tell  the  story 
from  an  original  or  first-hand  knowledge,  told  it  as 
they  received  it  from  others.  Thus,  to  use  a  form  of 
expression  common  to  Catholic  and  Anglican  writers, 
the  deposit  of  the  faith  was  confided  to  the  Church. 
The  treasure  that  is  now  in  writings  was  then  in  living 
preachers.  The  older  ministers  intrusted  it  to  the 
younger,  with  the  command  to  hand  it  on  to  still  oth- 
ers in  the  same  manner.  It  is  noteworthy  that  while 
not  one  of  the  Epistles  contains  a  particle  of  evidence 
showing  that  the  Gospel — or  the  Evangelical  Tradition 
— then  existed  in  a  written  form,  they  all  abound  in 
references  to  an  oral  or  preached  Gospel.  It  was 
natural  that  Epistles  should  be  written  before  Gos- 
pels. The  principal  Gospel  facts  and  teachings  could 
very  well  be  propagated  during  one  generation  by  a 
ministry  whose  leading  members  had  companied  with 
Jesus;  but  in  the  young  churches,  although  their 
members  had  a  firm  grasp  of  the  cardinal  Gospel 
truths,  questions  of  vital  importance  would  constantly 
arise, — questions  of  spiritual  life,  of  ecclesiastical  dis- 
cipline, of  gifts  and  ordinances,  that  only  the  author- 
ity of  an  Apostles  could  settle.  So  much  doctrine  as 
sufficed  to  convert  men  and  qualify  them  for  church 
membership,  left  a  thousand  things  unsettled.  Young 
Timothy  was  not  the  only  disciple  who  had  to  be 
taught  how  to  conduct  himself.  The  relations  of 
Christianity  to  Judaism  and  Paganism  had  to  be  de- 
termined, and  the  law  of  love  applied  to  the  varied 
phases  of  human  life.  No  doubt  the  Apostles  did 

*  I.  John  i.  1-3. 


THE  EPISTLES.  269 

much  of  this  work  in  their  personal  ministrations;  no 
doubt  pastors  and  evangelists  did  much  more;  but  the 
proper  evangelical  work  of  the  Apostles  prevented 
their  becoming  local  pastors,  and  they  were  compelled 
to  make  up  for  their  absence  by  writing  letters.  In 
these  considerations,  in  great  part,  the  Epistles  find 
their  explanation.  From  first  to  last,  it  is  taken  for 
granted  that  the  churches  are  in  firm  possession  of  the 
Evangelical  Tradition,  or  oral  Gospel,  so  that  the 
Epistles  make  no  pretensions  to  being  the  funda- 
mental books  of  our  religion.  Nor  must  it  be  forgot- 
ten that  writing  letters  was  a  small  part  of  the  Apos- 
tles' labors,  much  smaller  than  preaching  the  Gospel. 
Thus  do  we  reach  an  answer  to  our  question  as  to 
the  form  that  Paul's  writings  assumed.  He  might 
have  written  a  Gospel;  he  might  have  written  a 
"Scheme  of  Salvation,"  a  formal  treatise  upon  Chris- 
tianity. He  could  have  set  forth  in  order  a  full  ex- 
position of  the  faith,  practice,  and  organization  of 
the  Church.  How  much  disputation  he  might  have 
prevented  if  he  had  written  the  last !  But  he  did  noth- 
ing of  the  kind.  It  did  not  lie  in  his  way  to  do  any 
one  of  these  things.  Such  was  not  the  call  of  the 
hour.  He  became  a  letter-writer,  and  thus  used  the 
most  direct,  the  most  personal,  and  one  of  the  least 
formal  kinds  of  composition  to  promote  his  purpose. 
Except  that  to  the  Hebrews,  his  letters  conform  to 
the  antique  model,  according  to  which  the  name  of 
the  writer  comes  first.  The  address,  "Paul  an  Apos- 
tle of  Christ  Jesus,  etc.,  unto  Timothy,"  will  serve  as 
an  example.  It  may  be  added  that  without  these 
addresses  other  Epistles  would  have  shared  the 


270         THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

fate  of  the  Hebrews:    their   authorship    would  be  in 
question. 

One  relation  of  the  Apostolic  Epistles  to  Apostolic 
preaching  is  reflected  in  the  difficulty  that  scholars 
find  in  fixing  the  time  and  the  order  of  the  Epistles. 
The  Acts  mentions  no  letters;  the  Epistles  themselves 
are  not  dated;  and  we  are  left  to  make  out  their 
dates,  and  the  order  in  which  they  appeared,  by  log- 
ical inference  from  facts,  often  slight  in  themselves, 
scattered  through  the  primitive  writings.  There  is 
only  one  document  the  date  of  which  is  fixed  beyond 
all  dispute — what  Dean  Howson  calls  "  The  first  doc- 
ument presented  to  us  from  the  acts  of  the  primitive 
Church,"  the  letter  from  the  Apostles  and  elders 
written  at  Jerusalem  unto  the  brethren  which  were  of 
the  Gentiles  in  Antioch  and  Syria  and  Cilicia.  For  the 
rest,  the  reader  will  find  a  good  example  of  the  rea- 
soning by  which  the  dates  are  fixed,  in  the  argument 
of  the  same  writer  to  show  that  the  First  Thessaloni- 
ans  was  written  at  Corinth,  and  is  the  first  of  Paul's 
epistles. 

The  Epistles  then,  although  the  oldest  New  Testa- 
ment books,  are  not  the  originals  of  our  religion. 
The  Gospels,  the  composition  of  which  is  certainly 
later  than  the  oldest  Epistles,  if  not  later  than  all  of 
them,  reveal  to  us  the  first  and  formative  period. 
Moreover,  the  Epistles  are  in  no  sense  expositions  of, 
or  treatises  on,  Christianity.  They  are  partial  at  best, 
dealing  with  phases  of  the  subject,  not  with  the  whole 
subject;  they  are  occupied  with  parts  of  the  faith  and 
practice,  and  do  not  pretend  to  thorough  treatment.  I 
speak  of  them  now  individually  and  collectively. 


THE  EPISTLES.  271 

There  are  indeed  differences  in  the  Epistles;  some 
are  more  like  expositions  and  treatises  than  others. 
They  grew  out  of  particular  circumstances  and  condi- 
tions, and  deal  with  immediately  practical,  and  even 
personal,  questions. 

One  other  topic  should  receive  brief  mention.  Be- 
cause the  Epistles  are  not  the  originals  of  our  religion ; 
because  they  do  not  formally  deal  with  the  first  age  of 
Christianity,  but  with  the  second  age,  it  must  not  be 
supposed  that  they  do  not  bear  witness  to  the  first 
age,  or  that  their  witness  is  of  small  value.  On  both 
points  the  exact  opposite  is  the  truth.  These  writ- 
ings assume  the  existence  of  the  Christian  tradition; 
nay,  more,  they  tell  us  what  this  tradition  was.  The 
genuineness  and  authenticity  of  the  Gospels  have  been 
often  challenged  on  the  theory,  apparently,  that  if 
their  authority  can  be  broken  down  the  historical 
basis  of  Christianity  is  sapped.  There  could  not  be  a 
greater  mistake.  The  Gospel  is  in  the  world,  and  its 
origin  must  be  accounted  for.  More  than  this,  it  was 
in  the  world  at  the  middle  of  the  first  century.  This 
the  Epistles,  the  first  of  which  began  to  appear  about 
that  time,  conclusively  establish.  That  there  is  a 
group  of  Epistles,  including  some  of  the  greater  ones, 
whose  genuineness  has  not  been  seriously  disputed,  but 
is  rather  universally  admitted,  is  a  capital  fact  in  deal- 
ing with  the  origin  of  Christianity.  It  is  a  capital 
fact  because  these  writings  assume  the  contemporary 
existence  of  all  the  essential  Christian  facts;  the  sto- 
ry of  Jesus, — His  words  and  works,  His  doctrines  and 
commands,  His  institutions  and  ordinances,  His  prom- 
ises and  warnings.  Thus,  were  the  Gospels  as  docu- 


272         THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

ments  put  out  of  the  way,  the  Church,  the  Gospel,  and 
Jesus  would  still  remain.  Instead  of  the  problem  be- 
ing solved,  the  student  would  find  that  it  had  become 
more  difficult.  The  facts  of  the  year  60,  or  even  50, 
call  for  such  a  story  as  the  one  that  the  Gospels  tell 
us  quite  as  imperatively  as  the  facts  of  1895.  We 
might  possibly  imagine  that  the  human  mind  had  in- 
vented the  Church  in  the  course  of  nineteen  centu- 
ries; but  we  cannot  think  it  possible  that  it  could 
have  invented  in  the  course  of  half  a  century.  The 
Epistles  call  for  the  Gospels  much  as  the  second  act 
of  a  Shaksperian  drama  calls  for  the  first  act,  or  as 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  calls  for  the 
Declaration  of  Independence. 

How  vast  a  change  in  the  resources  and  methods  of 
the  Church  has  been  wrought  since  the  primitive  age ! 
So  accustomed  are  we  Protestants  to  finding  our  re- 
ligion in  The  New  Testament,  and  nowhere  else,  that 
we  have  difficulty  even  in  imagining  a  time  when  the 
the  same  religion  was  preached,  and  believed,  and 
practiced,  and  there  was  no  Testament.  For  us  the 
book  is  everything,  the  oral  preaching  nothing.  For 
the  first  Christians  the  oral  preaching  was  everything, 
while  the  book  did  not  exist.  In  one  respect  Catho- 
lics have  an  unquestionable  advantage  over  us.  Their 
habit  of  drawing  immediately  upon  a  so-called  living 
tradition  handed  down  in  the  successions  of  the  bish- 
ops— whatever  else  may  be  said  of  it — makes  them  the 
better  able  to  understand  some  features  of  the  primi- 
tive Church.  In  fact,  there  is  a  measure  of  truth  in 
their  view,  that  The  New  Testament  is  a  sort  of  history 
which  the  Church  made  of  itself. 


CHAPTEK  V. 

THE   GOSPELS. 

THE  writer  of  the  Third  Gospel  says  that,  since 
many  had  taken  in  hand  to  draw  up  narratives  con- 
cerning those  matters  which  had  been  fulfilled  among 
the  disciples,  it  seemed  good  to  him  also  to  write  unto 
the  excellent  Theophilus,  that  he  might  know  the  cer- 
tainty of  the  things  in  which  he  had  been  instructed.* 
The  writer  of  the  Fourth  Gospel  says  he  wrote  that 
men  might  believe  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of 
God;  and  that  believing  they  might  have  life  in  His 
name.t  In  neither  the  First  nor  the  Second  Gospel  does 
the  personality  of  the  author  appear  even  for  a  single 
moment,  and  in  neither  one  is  there  any  avowal  of  an 
aim  or  purpose  on  the  part  of  the  writer.  However, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  on  this  latter  point  in  either 
case.  The  four  Gospels  all  agree  in  this — they  look 
to  certainty  and  belief;  their  purpose  is  evangelical, 
and  they  are  often  appropriately  called  "The  Four 
Evangelists."  Thus  they  had  the  same  purpose  that 
Jesus  Himself  had,  His  words  and  works;  His  contin- 
ued appeal  to  men  was  that  they  should  believe. 
Written  after  the  Epistles  (at  least  after  most  of 

*  Luke  i.  1-3.  f  John  xx.  31. 

18  ( 273  ) 


274         THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

them),  the  Gospels  furnish  accounts  of  events  in  the 
same  line  of  history  without  which  the  Epistles  would, 
in  our  day,  be  largely  unintelligible.  Hence  all  the 
Gospels  may  be  described  in  the  same  words  that 
Mark  uses  to  introduce  his  narrative,  "  The  beginning 
of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ." 

All  Christians  recognize  a  dependence  of  the  written 
Gospel  upon  the  spoken  Gospel,  but  this  recognition 
does  not  seem  to  embrace  more  than  an  identity  of 
subject-matter.  How  the  stream  of  oral  testimon}r 
flowed  into  and  filled  the  Gospel, — how  preaching  be- 
came Scripture, — is  a  question  that  has  occupied  so 
little  attention  that  it  does  not  seem  to  be  generally 
understood  that  such  is  the  case.  The  former  theory, 
which  perhaps  is  the  one  now  generally  entertained, 
is  that  the  four  Gospels  were  struck  off  at  different 
times  and  places  by  single  impulses  of  Divine  power; 
that  they  were  written  much  as  the  Tables  of  the  Law 
are  said  to  have  been  produced ;  and  that  they  are,  to 
all  intents  and  purposes,  Divine  compositions.  With- 
out pausing  to  show  how  far  this  theory  is  false  or 
true,  I  shall  go  on  to  connect  the  written  and  the  oral 
Gospels.  No  other  writer  known  to  me  has  so  well 
set  forth  this  connection  as  DePressens^,  and  I  shall 
attempt  little  more  than  to  condense  his  general 
sketch.* 

On  the  days  following  the  feast  of  Pentecost,  the 
young  Church  seems  to  have  pitched  her  tent  on  the 
mount  of  glorious  vision,  ready  to  strike  it  again  at 
the  first  signal.  Nothing  is  less  likely  to  occur  to  her 
in  this  frame,  than  the  thought  of  writing  books. 

*  Jesus  Christ:    Life,  Times,  and  Work. 


THE  GOSPELS.  275 

The  Gospel  is  a  fervent, appealing  call;  it  is  the  good 
news  of  pardon  flying  from  mouth  to  mouth;  it  is  the 
oral  word,  and  means  the  work,  death,  and  resurrec- 
tion of  Jesus.  The  Church  has  for  a  long  time  no 
other  holy  books  than  those  of  the  Jews.  Charged 
with  the  mission  of  proclaiming  the  Kingdom  of  God 
to  the  whole  world,  the  Apostles  were  not  concerned 
to  write  books;  they  were  charged  with  a  far  grander 
mission.  In  this  period  the  Church  maybe  called  the 
Church  of  the  Oral  Testimony.  However,  this  testi- 
mony was  not  uncertain  and  fluctuating.  If  the  whole 
Church  were  to  be  witnesses  unto  the  end  of  the 
earth,  the  Apostles  were  to  occupy  the  foremost  place 
among  those  witnesses.  This  explains  the  great  care 
that  Jesus  took  to  instruct  them  and  attach  them  to 
His  person.  It  explains,  also,  the  care  taken  to  fill 
the  place  of  Judas  with  a  witness  of  the  resurrection, 
chosen  of  the  men  who  had  companied  with  the  dis- 
ciples all  the  time  that  Jesus  went  in  and  out  among 
them,  from  the  baptism  of  John  unto  the  day  of  His 
ascension.*  Thus,  the  testimony  that  was  to  be  the 
rule  and  the  check  and  the  canon,  in  the  primitive 
Church,  was  the  testimony  of  the  Apostles.  The  dis- 
tinctive mark  of  an  Apostle  was  to  be  an  immediate 
and  acknowledged  witness  of  Jesus.  Hence  the  Apos- 
tolic preaching  became  the  nucleus  of  the  Evangelical 
Tradition — the  core  of  the  oral  Gospel. 

This  tradition  began  to  take  a  definite  form  from 
the  very  first.  Peter's  sermons  in  The  Acts  set  forth 
the  great  facts  of  the  life  of  Jesus.  The  sermon 
delivered  in  the  house  of  Cornelius,  especially,  is 

*  Actsi.  21. 


276        THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

an  epitomized  Gospel,  which  reminds  us  of  Mark's 
history.  The  apologetical  discourses  delivered  to  un- 
believers kept  to  the  most  general  facts;  while  in  the 
inner  circle  of  the  Church,  the  Apostolic  teaching  and 
testimony  expanded  into  far  greater  richness  of  detail. 
Ordinary  acts  of  religious  life  had  a  special  signifi- 
cance. The  frequent  breaking  of  bread  would  call  up 
before  the  memory  the  scene  of  the  last  supper — 
words  and  acts — with  all  that  the  scene  imported. 
The  eleventh  chapter  of  the  First  Corinthians,  written 
before  a  single  Gospel  had  appeared,  shows  that  the 
account  of  the  institution  of  the  supper  was  fixed  in 
the  remembrance  of  the  Church.  Paul,  in  writing 
that  chapter,  and  Luke,  in  writing  the  account  in  his 
Gospel,  drew  from  the  same  source,  viz.,  the  certain 
and  permanent  tradition,  or  account,  of  that  event 
which  was  in  the  full  possession  of  the  disciples.  The 
baptismal  formula  was  a  center  around  which  material 
facts  were  naturally  grouped.  The  oral  Gospel  in- 
creased in  fullness.  Many  a  saying  or  act  lying  dor- 
mant in  the  minds  of  the  Apostles  was  called  into  life 
by  the  events  of  history.  The  experience  of  every 
day — the  grave  questions  which  arose;  the  striking 
applications  of  one  and  another  portion  of  the  teach- 
ing of  Jesus;  the  accomplishment  of  his  predictions — 
all  contributed  to  revive  in  the  minds  of  His  disciples, 
and  to  fill  with  meaning,  many  of  the  sublime  utter- 
ances which  had  at  first  passed  their  comprehension 
and  been  forgotten.  How  this  would  be,  is  illustrated 
to  every  man  of  thought  by  his  own  experience.  We 
have  an  excellent  example  in  the  case  of  Peter  at 
Caesarea.  When  he  saw  the  signs  of  Pentecost  re- 


THE  GOSPELS.  277 

newed  upon  the  members  of  a  Pagan  household,  he 
remembered  "the  word  of  the  Lord,  how  that  He 
said,  John  indeed  baptized  with  water,  but  ye  shall  be 
baptized  with  the  Holy  Ghost."  *  Than  this  nothing 
could  be  more  natural  or  more  beautiful.  Nor  were 
such  experiences  infrequent;  they  may  be  said  to 
have  occurred  almost  every  day.  And  thus,  in  the 
most  natural  manner,  tradition  grew  and  was  com- 
pleted. 

Tradition  tended  to  assume  a  form  more  and  more 
exact  and  definite.  Long  poems  and  songs  have  been 
transmitted  from  generation  to  generation  in  oral 
forms.  The  Jews  are  pre-eminently  the  nation  of  tradi- 
tions. The  traditions  of  the  Elders  were  thus  preserved 
for  generations  before  they  were  embodied  in  the  Tal- 
mud. The  Rabbis  kept  a  purely  grammatical  tradition 
for  nearly  seven  hundred  years.  Assuredly,  the  Gospel 
history  could  be,  and  would  be,  carried  in  the  memo- 
ries of  men  to  whom  it  was  the  one  great  concern. 
This  primitive  tradition,  which  preserved  the  historic 
Christ  of  the  Church  by  impressing  His  features  on 
loving  souls,  finds  a  touching  and  faithful  symbol  in 
Mary,  the  mother  of  Jesus,  who,  according  to  Luke, 
kept  in  her  heart  the  gracious  things  of  which  she  had 
been  the  witness.  To  preserve  the  faithful  memory 
of  the  past,  was  the  general  solicitude  of  the  primi- 
tive Church.  This  is  illustrated  in  a  passage  found  in 
a  book  of  the  second  century,  which  puts  into  the 
mouth  of  the  Apostle  Peter  the  words:  "I  am  accus- 
tomed to  recall  to  mind  the  words  of  the  Lord,  which 
I  had  heard,  so  as  to  engrave  them  on  my  memory." 

*  Acts  xi.  16. 


278        THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

Such  was  the  mental  habit  of  the  first  disciples.  Ire- 
naeus,  in  the  next  century,  says  he  did  the  same  thing 
with  the  words  of  his  teacher  Polycarp. 

By  and  by  written  narratives  began  to  come  to  the 
aid  of  the  Christians.  This  is  shown  by  the  introduc- 
tion to  the  Third  Gospel.  The  narratives  there 
spoken  of  are  not  the  Canonical  Gospels;  they  are 
not,  properly  speaking,  Gospels  at  all;  they  are  rather 
fragmentary  relations;  but  they  preserved,  in  its  life 
and  freshness,  the  testimony  of  the  Apostolic  wit- 
nesses. These  narratives  gave  a  more  positive  char- 
acter to  the  primitive  tradition;  they  formed  that 
common  stream  from  which  Paul  drew,  which  was  in 
no  sense  a  floating  oral  tradition.  The  allusions  in 
the  Epistles  to  the  words  of  Jesus,  which  are  almost 
verbal  quotations,  show  that  the  teaching  of  the  Mas- 
ter was  preserved  in  a  very  exact  form.  Such  a  text  as 
this,  "  The  laborer  is  worthy  of  his  hire,"  *  presents  a 
striking  coincidence  with  a  well-known  Gospel  pas- 
sage, t  Such  passages  show  that  before  our  present 
Gospels  were  written,  the  Apostolic  testimony,  espec- 
ially as  to  words  and  teaching,  was  assuming  a  fixed 
form.  To  this  end,  the  narratives  mentioned  by  Luke 
no  doubt  contributed.  Familiar  passages  of  The 
Acts  show  that  there  was  a  marked  tendency  among 
the  first  Christians  to  use  the  same  forms  of  language, 
to  cast  the  Evangelical  narrative  into  one  mold,  which, 
however,  allowed  divergences  of  detail.  The  same 
tendency  in  respect  to  other  things  is  found  in  the 
second  century. 

Accordingly,  tradition  was  the  fountain  of  Canonical 

*  1  Tim.  v.  18.  t  See  Luke  x.  7. 


THE  GOSPELS.  279 

Scripture;  from  it  the  Gospels  issued  while  the  foun- 
tain was  still  flowing,  pure  and  abundant,  over  the 
very  ground  which  Jesus  had  trodden.  This  view  ex- 
plains certain  words  attributed  to  Jesus,  found  in 
early  Christian  literature,  which  are  no  doubt  authen- 
tic, as  the  words  quoted  by  Paul:  "It  is  more 
blessed  to  give  than  to  receive."  *  Our  New  Testa- 
ment does  not  contain  all  that  was  in  Apostolic 
tradition. 

Our  Gospels  are  not  older  than  the  year  60  A.  D. 
Up  to  this  time,  Jerusalem  is  the  Christian  center  and 
metropolis.  The  concourse  of  Apostolic  men  there 
naturally  tended  to  preserve  the  Gospel  story.  When 
the  Jerusalem  group  is  broken  up,  the  Church  can  no 
longer  be  contented  with  oral  tradition,  or  the  imper- 
fect narratives  that  have  thus  far  appeared;  there  are 
no  official  proceedings ;  all  is  done  naturally,  in  con- 
sequence of  a  change  of  circumstance.  Our  Gospels 
were  not,  as  some  seem  to  suppose,  brought  out  with 
eclat  as  inspired  Scriptures.  The  second  Church  was 
unlike  the  first  in  this,  it  had  no  ark  of  cedar  in 
which  to  enshrine  a  holy  book.  Each  Gospel  arises 
spontaneously,  as  occasion  calls  it  forth;  it  appears 
without  observation,  and  is  not  ushered  in  with  a 
proclamation. 

Omitting  the  inspirational  or  providential  element, 
the  above  is  an  outline  of  DePressens^'s  general  con- 
struction of  this  part  of  the  Evangelical  history. 
This  omission  is  made  because  it  is  inconsistent  with 
the  purely  historical  and  human  standpoint  of  this 
essay.  The  eloquent  historian  then  takes  up  the 

*  Acts  xx.  35. 


280        THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

books  one  by  one,  showing  that  Matthew  is  the  com- 
position of  Levi,  the  publican,  and  that  it  appeared 
first  in  Palestine;  that  Mark  is  the  composition  of 
John  the  Evangelist,  and  that  it  is  in  substance  the 
compendium  of  facts  and  discourses  that  Peter  used 
in  his  preaching;  that  Luke  is  the  composition  of  the 
physician  of  that  name,  and  that  it  tells  the  Gospel 
story  as  Paul  was  wont  to  tell  it;  and  that  John  is  the 
composition  of  the  beloved  disciple,  who  wrote  it  to 
supplement  the  others,  towards  the  close  of  the  first 
century.  Through  these  particular  constructions  I 
can  not  follow  him;  nor  is  it  necessary.  My  aim  is 
not  to  give  a  history  of  the  Gospels,  but  only  to  pre- 
sent a  general  view  of  the  human  causes  and  condi- 
tions that  led  to  their  production.  Perhaps  the  more 
material  facts  can  be  so  grouped  as  to  make  a  still 
stronger  impression. 

The  sermons  reported  in  The  Acts  may  be  divided  in- 
to two  classes — Jewish  sermons  and  Gentile  sermons. 
These  differ  from  one  another,  not  in  aim,  but  to  a  de- 
gree in  the  circles  of  ideas  through  which  the  aim  is 
realized.  The  Law  was  a  schoolmaster  to  bring  the 
Jew  to  Christ,  but  the  Gentile  had  no  such  school- 
master. But  through  Jewish  and  Gentile  sermons 
alike,  there  runs  the 'common  evangelical  element 
that  is  the  characteristic  feature  of  The  New  Testa- 
ment. To  both  nationalities  the  Apostles  preached 
the  Gospel,  and  taught  all  things  whatsoever  the  Mas- 
ter had  commanded  them.  Hence  they  became  nar- 
rators— tellers  of  the  new  story.  Fragments  of  narra- 
tive or  allusions  to  narrative  are  found  in  every  ser- 
mon that  is  mentioned.  In  their  first  recorded  meeting 


THE  GOSPELS.  281 

after  the  disciples  were  finally  parted  from  the  Master, 
mention  is  made  of  the  time  that  Jesus  went  in  and 
out  among  them,  beginning  from  the  baptism  of  John 
until  the  day  of  His  ascension.  On  Pentecost,  Peter 
spoke  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  as  a  man  approved  of 
God  by  miracles  and  wonders  and  signs.  In  Solo- 
mon's porch  he  returned  to  the  same  theme.  The 
next  day  before  the  Council  it  was  the  same  way, 
and  even  when  the  Apostles  had  been  beaten  and  for- 
bidden to  speak,  they  ceased  not  to  teach  and  to 
preach  Jesus  Christ.  Stephen  followed  their  exam- 
ple.* And  so  at  Samaria,  at  Damascus,  on  the  road 
to  Gaza,  at  Caesarea,  at  Antioch,  at  Miletus,  and  be- 
fore Agrippa  the  burden  of  the  story  was  the  same. 
These  sermons  are  never  fully  reported;  but  no  mat- 
ter how  meagre  the  report  may  be,  the  great  theme  is 
always  mentioned.  In  one  instance  we  have  a  con- 
densed evangelical  narrative.  When  Peter  had  recov- 
ered from  his  surprise  in  the  house  of  Cornelius,  he 
went  on  to  say: 

The  word  which  God  sent  unto  the  children  of  Israel,  preach- 
ing peace  by  Jesus  Christ :  He  is  the  Lord  of  all :  That  word,  I 
say,  ye  know,  which  was  published  throughout  all  Judaea,  and 
began  from  Galilee,  after  the  baptism  which  John  preached; 
how  God  anointed  Jesus  of  Nazareth  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and 
with  power :  who  went  about  doing  good ,  and  healing  all  that 
were  oppressed  of  the  devil ;  for  God  was  with  Him.  And 
we  are  witnesses  of  all  things  which  He  did,  both  in  the  land  of 
the  Jews ,  and  in  Jerusalem  ;  whom  they  slew  and  hanged  on  a 
tree :  Him  God  raised  up  the  third  day ,  and  shewed  Him  openly  ; 
not  to  all  the  people,  but  unto  witnesses  chosen  before  of  God, 
even  to  us,  who  did  eat  and  drink  with  Him  after  He  rose 
from  the  dead.  And  He  commanded  us  to  preach  unto  the  peo- 

*  Acts  i.  21,  22;  ii.  22;  iii.  12;  iv.  10;  v.  40-43;  vii.  55. 


282         THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

pie,  and  to  testify  that  it  is  He  which  was  ordained  of  God  to 
be  the  judge  of  quick  and  dead.  To  Him  gave  all  the  prophets 
witness,  that  through  His  name  whosoever  believeth  in  Him 
shall  receive  remission  of  sins.  * 

This  report  is  of  great  interest,  both  because  it  is 
the  first  one  of  the  kind  found  in  The  Acts,  and  be- 
cause it  illustrates  how  the  Evangelical  story  tended 
to  assume  a  definite  form.  The  historian  gives  us 
but  a  rapid  summary  of  an  elaborate  discourse;  still 
this  summary  is  a  little  gospel  in  itself.  Beyond  ques- 
tion, we  may  see  similar  gospels  back  of  such  expres- 
sions as,  "He  preached  Christ"  and  "He  preached 
Jesus."  This  is  what  it  was  to  preach  Christ.  We 
have  a  similar  gospel,  and  a  still  earlier  one,  in  the 
fifteenth  chapter  of  First  Corinthians,  while  the  Epis- 
tles abound  in  references  to  others  that  are  not  for- 
mally presented.  These  are  to  be  regarded  not  only 
as  summaries  of  doctrine,  but  also  as  epitomies  of  the 
life  of  Jesus. 

We  come  therefore  to  the  conclusion  that  the  first 
gospels,  or  first  evangelical  narratives,  were  oral  com- 
positions given  to  the  world  in  the  sermons  of  the 
Apostles.  For  years  no  other  gospels  were  known. 
Still  more,  these  gospels  constantly  tended  to  greater 
fullness  of  matter,  and  greater  definiteness  of  form. 
Beginning  with  such  a  syllabus  as  those  used  by 
Peter  and  by  Paul,  the  preacher  would  naturally  go  on 
to  amplify  in  the  directions  that  he  was  led  by  his  own 
knowledge.  Still  more,  the  preacher  would  naturally 
seek  to  enlarge  the  store  of  materials  that  he  could 
use  to  enforce  and  illustrate  the  different  propositions 

*Actsx.  34-43. 


THE  GOSPELS.  283 

of  the  summary.  Different  sermons  preached  by  the 
same  man  would  deal  with  different  parts  of  the  Evan- 
gelical story,  and  much  more  different  sermons  by  dif- 
ferent preachers;  so  that  we  may  imagine  that,  in 
time,  such  a  church  as  that  in  Antioch  would  come 
into  the  possession  of  a  large  part  of  the  whole  tra- 
dition. There  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  the 
principal  churches  within  a  generation  or  two  were  in 
possession  of  a  large  portion  of  the  matter  now  found 
in  the  Four  Gospels. 

Thus,  the  elaboration  of  the  materials  out  of  which 
our  familiar  Gospels  were  formed,  began  in  the  teach- 
ing and  preaching  of  the  Apostles.  There  is  nothing 
extreme  in  the  assumption  that  these  Gospels  them- 
selves, or  at  least  the  first  three  of  them,  thus  began 
to  take  on  their  shaping.  The  process  was  carried  on 
by  those  most  familiar  with  the  facts.  On  this  point 
the  ancient  tradition  that  Mark  and  Luke  merely  com- 
mitted to  writing  the  Evangelical  story  as  Peter  and 
Paul  respectively  were  accustomed  to  tell  it,  is  most 
suggestive. 

Admirable  as  oral  Gospels  were  in  their  time,  they 
could  not  in  the  long  run  suffice;  the  Christian  mind 
longed  for  something  more  certain  and  permanent, 
and  it  was  not  only  natural,  but  inevitable,  that  writ- 
ten gospels  or  narratives  should  appear.  Who  pro- 
duced the  first  ones,  and  at  what  times,  we  have  no 
means  of  knowing;  but  there  can  be  little  question 
that  Luke,  in  his  introduction,  refers  to  narratives 
that  had  been  produced  in  just  this  way.  The  work 
of  composition  would  be  assisted  by  causes  that  we 
are  too  apt  to  overlook  or  undervalue.  There  was 


284         THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

first  the  retentiveness  of  the  ancient  memory,  while 
the  forms  into  which  Jesus  had  thrown  much  of  his 
teaching, — the  maxim,  the  parable,  and  the  parabolic 
discourse, — took  fast  hold  of  the  mind. 

I  have  sought  to  throw  light  on  the  origin  of  our 
Gospels — particularly  to  explain  how  the  written 
Evangelical  narratives  grew  out  of  the  sermons  of  the 
Apostles.  If  nothing  more  has  been  done,  perhaps 
the  subject  has  been  brought  into  the  field  of  com- 
mon human  life  and  interest,  and  so  been  shorn  of 
some  of  its  mystery.  As  I  have  used  the  word  "tra- 
dition," I  should  add  that  I  use  it,  not  in  the  received 
ecclesiastical  sense,  but  in  the  sense  of  the  highest 
Christian  antiquity.  I  mean  by  it  the  body  of  ac- 
cepted Evangelical  teaching  growing  immediately  out 
of  the  life  and  person  of  Jesus.  It  is  the  same  thing 
as  the  Gospel  story. 

To  this  chapter  may  very  properly  be  appended  a 
paragraph  touching  The  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  The 
writer  begins  with  referring  to  the  former  treatise 
that  he  has  made  concerning  all  that  Jesus  began  both 
to  do  and  to  teach,  just  as  though  he  were  about  to 
add,  "And  I  shall  now  take  up  the  story  and  carry  it 
forward;"  but,  as  though  hurried  by  the  very  impetu- 
osity of  his  subject,  he  rushes  on,  without  making  a 
formal  connection,  to  the  later  matters  with  which  he 
is  to  deal.  The  book  stands  to  the  Apostles  in  a  rela- 
tion similar  to  that  in  which  the  Gospels  stand  to 
Jesus.  It  is  the  Gospel  in  the  second  stage  of  its  his- 
tory. In  some  measure,  it  was  the  composition  of  an 
eye  witness  of  the  things  recorded;  for  the  rest,  any 
explanation  that  applies  to  the  First  and  Third  Gospels 
will  apply  to  this  book. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

CHARACTER   OF   THE   EVANGELICAL   TRADITION. 

IN  the  foregoing  discussion  some  use  has  been  made 
of  the  word  "tradition;"  and  as  the  word  is  occasion- 
ally found  in  The  New  Testament,  and  frequently  in 
Church  literature,  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  review 
the  leading  facts  that  have  been  presented  in  the 
last  three  chapters  under  the  aspect  that  the  word 
suggests.  We  should  at  least  try  to  form  a  definite 
and  correct  notion  of  what  the  original  Christian  tra- 
dition was. 

The  meanings  of  the  Greek  verb  paradidonai  and 
the  Latin  verb  tradere  run  parallel  throughout. 
Their  first  meaning  is  to  give  up,  to  deliver  over,  to 
transmit,  without  any  reference  to  what  is  delivered 
or  transmitted;  their  second  meaning,  to  deliver  over, 
or  transmit,  some  mental  thing,  a  product  of  the 
mind.  Paradosis  and  traditio,  the  conjugate  nouns, 
have  three  meanings,  also  parallel:  (1)  The  act  of 
giving  up,  handing  down,  or  transmitting;  (2)  The 
act  of  transmitting  some  product  of  the  iniud,  a 
legend,  saying,  or  doctrine,  without  regard  to  the 
means  of  communication,  whether  oral  or  written 
language;  (3)  The  thing  delivered,  as  the  product  of 

(285) 


286         THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

the  mind  that  is  transmitted  or  handed  down.  The 
English  language  has  no  word  that  is  the  equivalent 
of  paradidonai  and  tradere,  but  the  noun  "tradition" 
has  the  three  meanings  expressed  by  paradosis  and 
Iraditio.  It  is  to  be  observed,  however,  that  the 
English  word  is  narrower  than  the  Greek  or  Latin 
word.  It  makes  the  instrument  of  transmission 
oral  language;  while  they  apply  to  oral  and  writ- 
ten language  indifferently,  the  Latin,  in  fact,  rather 
preferring  the  written  form.  Still  it  should  not 
be  supposed  that  the  channel  of  transmission  in 
a  given  case  must  forever  remain  oral  speech,  or 
that  the  tradition  must  always  continue  in  an  un- 
written form :  this  element  relates  rather  to  the  orig- 
inal act  of  delivery,  and  to  the  early  stages  of  the 
transmitting  process. 

Jesus  delivered  his  teachings  in  oral,  not  in  written, 
words.  He  gave  to  the  Apostles  the  commission: 
"Preach the  Gospel  to  every  creature;"  "Teach  them 
to  observe  all  things  whatsoever  I  have  commanded 
you;"  and  under  this  commission  they  went  forth 
and  preached  everywhere  what  they  remembered  of 
His  life  and  teachings.  Wherever  they  went,  they 
called  to  their  assistance  evangelists,  and  also  bishops 
or  pastors,  whom  they  entrusted  with  the  ministry  of 
preaching  and  teaching.  Paul  wrote  to  Timothy: 
Keep  that  which  is  committed  to  thy  trust;  hold  fast 
the  form  of  sound  words  which  thou  hast  heard  of 
me  in  faith  and  love  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus;  and  the 
things  that  thou  hast  heard  of  me  among  many  wit- 
nesses, the  same  commit  thou  to  faithful  men  who 
shall  be  able  to  teach  others  also.  The  great  salva- 


THE   EVANGELICAL  TRADITION.  287 

tion  began  to  be  spoken  by  the  Lord,  and  was  con- 
firmed unto  men  by  them  that  heard  him.  Paul  said 
to  the  Corinthians:  I  have  received  of  the  Lord  that 
which  also  I  delivered  unto  you;  I  delivered  unto  you 
first  of  all  that  which  I  also  received.  Such  was  the 
nature  of  all  teaching  and  all  instruction  in  the  early 
days  of  the  Church. 

But  in  course  of  time,  as  has  been  already  ex- 
plained, these  forces  became  inadequate.  The  fuller 
instruction  of  believers,  the  discipline  of  the  Church, 
and  even  the  propagation  and  permanence  of  the 
Gospel  rendered  written  documents  an  imperative 
necessity.  What  had  been  delivered  and  received  as 
an  oral  tradition  now  became,  as  the  usage  of  words 
fully  justifies  Us  in  saying,  a  written  tradition. 

We  are  now  in  position  to  understand  the  word 
"tradition"  as  applied  in  The  New  Testament  to  the 
doctrine  of  Jesus.  It  is  found  in  three  passages,  two  of 
which  are  in  the  Second  Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians. 
Paul  says  in  one  of  them:  "Now  we  command  you, 
brethren,  in  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that 
ye  withdraw  yourselves  from  every  brother  that  walk- 
eth  disorderly,  and  not  after  the  tradition  which  he 
received  of  us;"*  and  in  the  other:  "Therefore, 
brethren,  stand  fast  and  hold  the  traditions  which 
ye  have  been  taught,  whether  by  word,  or  our  epis- 
tle, "f  Some  writers  lay  stress  on  these  passages  as 
proving  that  the  "tradition"  here  referred  to  was 
something  not  found  in  The  New  Testament.  What 
the  passages  mean,  is  clear  enough  in  the  light  of 
the  preceding  discussion.  The  traditions  are  the  very 

*  Chap.  iii.  6.  t  Chap.  ii. 


288         THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

substance  of  the  Gospel,  not  something  supplemental 
to  it.  They  are  what  the  Apostle  had  taught  the 
Thessalonians  of  Christ;  facts,  doctrines,  precepts, 
and  examples.  More  specifically,  what  these  tradi- 
tions were  can  be  gathered  from  the  Thessalonian 
Epistles  themselves.  Paul  says,  for  example :  "But 
as  touching  brotherly  love,  ye  need  not  that  I  write 
unto  you,  for  ye  yourselves  are  taught  of  God  to  love 
one  another."*  That  is,  they  were  already  in  pos- 
session of  the  Christian  tradition  on  that  subject. 
Again,  when  he  says,  "Study  to  be  quiet,  and  to  do 
your  own  business,  and  to  work  with  your  own  hands, 
as  we  commanded  you,"t  he  is  refreshing  their 
minds  in  a  tradition  that  had  been  previously  com- 
municated. What  is  more,  these  traditions  had  been 
delivered  in  written  as  well  as  in  spoken  language : 
"whether  by  word  or  our  epistle."  In  the  hands  of 
Paul,  paradosis  means  what  it  does  in  other  Greek 
writings,  something  delivered,  whether  orally,  or  in 
written  language.  The  traditions  in  the  hands  of  the 
Thessalonians  were  Paul's  discourses  and  letters,  no 
more  and  no  less.  Jeremy  Taylor,  in  illustration, 
cites  Irenaeus  to  the  effect  that  Apostolical  traditions 
were  such  as  these :  That  Christ  took  the  cup  and 
said  it  was  His  blood;  that  men  should  believe  in  one 
God,  and  in  Christ,  who  was  born  of  a  virgin. 

The  passages  in  the  Second  Thessalonians  are  the 
only  ones  where  the  Common  Version  renders 
paradosis  as  referring  to  the  Gospel  by  "tradi- 
tion." But  the  word  is  found  with  that  meaning 
in  First  Corinthians  xi.  2.  The  passage  reads:  "Now 

*  1  Thess.  iv.  9.  t  1  Thess.  iv.  11,  12. 


THE  EVANGELICAL   TRADITION.  289 

I  praise  you,  brethren,  that  ye  remember  me  in 
all  things,  and  keep  the  ordinances,  as  I  delivered 
them  to  you.  "Ordinances"  should  read  "tradi- 
tions;" that  is,  to  quote  Dean  Alford  on  the  passage, 
"the  Apostolic  maxims  of  faith  and  practice,  deliv- 
ered either  orally  or  in  writing."  The  Corinthians 
had  kept  the  things  delivered  as  Paul  had  delivered 
them. 

Paradosis  is  found  thirteen  times  in  The  New  Tes- 
tament. Nine  times  it  refers-to  the  traditions  of  the 
Jews,  which  both  Jesus  and  the  Apostles  denounced 
in  no  measured  terms.  Three  times  it  refers  to  the 
doctrine  of  Jesus,  as  has  been  noted  above.  In 
Colossians  ii.  8,  where  we  read,  "Beware  lest  any 
man  spoil  you  through  philosophy  and  vain  deceit, 
after  the  traditions  of  men,  after  the  rudiments  of 
the  world,  and  not  after  Christ,"  the  word  may  pos- 
sibly refer  to  Jewish  tradition,  but  seems  to  have  a 
broader  meaning.  The  verb  is  found  one  hundred 
and  nineteen  times,  generally  in  the  sense  of  giving 
or  delivering  over  something.  It  occurs  in  the  well- 
known  expression,  "That  form  of  doctrine  which 
was  delivered  you,"*  which  should  rather  read,  "Unto 
which  ye  were  delivered." 

The  writing  and  publication  of  the  books  compos- 
ing The  New  Testament  is  an  event  of  the  first  im- 
portance in  the  history  of  the  Church.  Their  circula- 
tion greatly  changed  the  methods  of  propagating  the 
Gospel,  and  of  disciplining  believers.  And  yet  the 
immediate  change  was  far  less  than  any  one  who  has 
not  studied  the  subject  would  suppose.  The  Epistles 

*  Rom  vi.  17. 
19 


290         THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

did  not  supersede,  and  did  not  aim  to  supersede,  the 
oral  Gospel.  Their  very  nature  made  this  impossible. 
On  the  other  hand,  they  abound  in  exhortations  to  the 
disciples  to  continue  in  the  things  that  had  been  de- 
livered; they  build  on  the  foundation  that  the  oral 
Gospel  furnishes.  No  more  do  The  Acts  and  Revela- 
tion assume  to  set  that  Gospel  aside.  They,  too,  are 
supplemental  to  the  Evangelical  Tradition.  Not  until 
the  publication  of  the  Canonical  Gospels  did  anything 
authoritative  appear  which  could  take  the  place  of 
that  tradition.  The  circulation  of  these  books  is  an 
event  second  in  importance  only  to  the  primitive 
preaching.  It  is,  in  fact,  a  republication  of  the  Gos- 
pel in  a  new  form.  To  suppose,  however,  that  the 
old  form  immediately  gave  way  to  the  new, — that  oral 
tradition  at  once  yielded  to  written  memorials, — would 
be  to  commit  a  very  great  mistake.  For  a  consider- 
able period  after  the  publication  of  The  New  Testa- 
ment writings,  the  oral  Christianity  flowed  on  in  a 
stream  almost  as  broad  and  deep  as  before. 

NOTE. — The  writer  has  examined  the  subject  of  Tradition 
much  more  thoroughly  in  a  work  entitled,  '  'Ecclesiastical  Tra- 
dition" (Cincinnati,  1879).  In  this  chapter  he  has  drawn 
freely  upon  this  book  for  both  matter  and  language. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

SOME   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   DOCUMENTS. 

SEVERAL  facts  of  great  importance  in  the  history  of 
the  Primitive  Church  have  been  stated  in  the  previous 
chapters.  The  Church  had  its  rise  in  oral  preaching; 
literary  documents  devoted  to  the  new  religion  did  not 
begin  to  appear  until  twenty  or  more  years  after  the 
death  of  Jesus;  Epistles  appeared  before  Gospels; 
the  latter,  when  they  came,  were  drawn  from  the 
stream  of  oral  testimony,  or  tradition;  these  writ- 
ings, both  Epistles  and  Gospels,  appeared  spontane- 
ously, as  they  were  called  out  by  existing  wants,  their 
authors,  whatever  may  have  been  their  ideas  of  the 
future,  writing  for  the  immediate  present;  all  the 
writings  existed  and  circulated  as  separate  documents 
long  before  there  was  any  New  Testament.  From  this 
time  on,  our  question  is  the  question  of  the  Canon; 
but  before  taking  this  question  up,  we  must  glance  at 
several  features  that  the  several  books  have  in  com- 
mon. And  first,  the  propositions  that  they  appeared 
spontaneously,  and  that  they  were  written  to  meet 
immediate  wants,  need  further  elaboration. 

The  New  Testament  documents  are  twenty-seven  in 

number;  four  Gospels,  one  Apostolic  History,  twen- 

(291) 


292        THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

ty-one  Epistles,  and  an  Apocalypse.  There  is  evi- 
dence that  there  was  a  consultation  between  Paul  and 
Barnabas,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  "  Pillar  Apos- 
tles "  on  the  other,  as  to  the  fields  in  which  they 
should  respectively  preach;  *  but  there  is  not  the 
slightest  evidence  that  there  was  ever  any  agreement 
or  consultation  among  the  Apostles,  or  any  of  them, 
as  to  writing  either  Epistles  or  Gospels.  Difficult  as 
it  is  to  prove  negatives,  one  need  not  hesitate  to  say 
that  there  was  nothing  of  the  kind.  That  is,  these 
books  were  not  written  according  to  a  scheme  or  pro- 
gramme. The  twenty-seven  documents  were  written 
by  eight  different  men;  and,  with  two  exceptions,  I 
can  not  recall,  either  in  Scripture  or  in  the  early 
Church  tradition,  any  intimation  that  any  one  of  these 
writers  wrote  what  he  did  on  account  of  what  any 
other  one  had,  or  had  not,  written.  Peter  says  the 
Epistles  of  Paul  contain  some  things  hard  to  be  under- 
stood, and  that  the  unsteadfast  wrest  them  to  their 
own  destruction.!  Eusebius  says  that  the  Apostle 
John  approved  the  first  three  Gospels,  and  then, 
recognizing  their  incompleteness,  wrote  his  own  Gos- 
pel to  supplement  the  mosi  important  omissions,  t 
And  this  is  all.  Moreover,  there  is  slight  evidence  of 
scheme  or  programme  on  the  part  of  the  individual 
writers.  Luke  wrote  the  Third  Gospel  and  The  Acts; 
that  he  forecasted  a  plan  before  writing  the  Gospel 
we  do  not  know;  but  The  Acts  is  a  continuation  of  the 
Gospel,  and  we  may  concede  design.  Peter's  two 
Epistles  are  wholly  independent  of  each  other;  they 
are  as  separate  and  distinct  as  any  two  letters  upon 

*  Gal.  ii.  9.  f  II.  Pet.  ill.  16.          J  Eccl.  Hist.  lii.  24. 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  DOCUMENTS.         293 

the  same  general  subject,  by  the  same  writer,  could 
be.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  three  Epistles  of 
John.  Paul  was  the  best  trained  thinker  of  all  the 
Apostles;  he  had  the  most  logical  mind,  was  the  most 
of  a  theologian,  and  came  nearer  than  any  other  one 
to  being  a  system-maker;  but  how  his  epistles  arose 
out  of  exigent  demands  and  duties,  has  been  shown  in 
a  previous  chapter.  In  no  scientific  sense  are  his  let- 
ters parts  of  an  "  exposition  of  the  faith."  Quite  the 
contrary.  He  did  not  write  what  he  wrote  to  the 
Corinthians  on  account  of  anything  that  he  had  writ- 
ten, or  proposed  to  write,  to  the  Romans.  There  is 
no  logical  or  theoretical  connection  between  the  Grala- 
tians  and  the  Ephesians.  Accordingly,  if  his  fourteen 
letters  should  be  collected  into  a  volume  by  them- 
selves, the  volume  would  not  be  characterized  by 
either  unity  or  completeness.  It  would  not  form  a 
"system"  or,  properly  speaking,  even  a  book.  In 
fact,  the  Apostles'  letters  have  much  of  the  spon- 
taneity, freedom,  unpremeditativeness,  that  marked 
their  sermons.  They  are  a  part  of  the  same  great 
work;  they  strengthen  and  supplement  each  other; 
they  are  filled  with  the  same  knowledge  and  warmed 
with  the  same  spirit;  they  are  the  writings  of  men 
taught  of  the  same  Master  and  working  for  the  same 
end:  but  they  were  written  at  different  times  and 
places,  without  concert  of  action  or  comparison  of 
views;  they  sprang  out  of  different  circumstances  and 
looked  to  particular  ends,  and  there  is  no  intimation 
that  their  authors  ever  contemplated  a  second  volume 
of  Scripture  that  should  equal  or  surpass  the  Jewish 


294        THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

Writings, — no  intimation  that  they  ever  contemplated 
a  volume  of  Scripture  at  all. 

The  reader  who  has  followed  me  this  far  has  no- 
ticed, no  doubt,  that  slight  attention  has  been  paid  to 
dates,  and  to  the  order  in  which  The  New  Testament 
books  appeared.  I  have  not  thought  it  necessary  even 
to  raise  the  question  answered  with  so  much  ability  by 
Tischendorf,  "When  were  our  Four  Gospels  writ- 
ten? "  I  deal  rather  with  the  manner  in  which  the 
books  appeared  than  with  the  time  of  their  appear- 
ance. But  there  is  one  general  fact  bearing  on  the 
chronological  question  that  I  wish  to  set  forth,  the 
fact,  viz. :  That,  so  far  as  we  can,  either  by  a  priori 
construction  or  by  following  other  lines  of  historical 
inquiry,  picture  to  ourselves  what  the  periods  in  the 
history  of  the  Church  covered  by  the  Christian  Writ- 
ings were,  our  ideas  are  met  by  the  Gospels,  The  Acts, 
and  the  Epistles.  The  hypothesis  is  this:  Granting 
the  essential  parts  of  the  story,— Jesus  and  His  minis- 
try, the  Apostles  and  their  preaching,  and  the  Church; 
granting  these  forces  at  work  in  the  Jewish  and  Gen- 
tile fields  of  the  first  century, — the  evolution  traced 
in  the  Gospels,  in  The  Acts,  and  in  the  Epistles  is 
consistent,  harmonious,  and  natural.  Some  illustra- 
tion of  this  thought  will  fill  out  this  chapter. 

Touching  the  Gospels,  the  great  question  is  not  so 
much  their  dates,  or  even  their  authors,  as  it  is  their 
truth  and  reality.  Stated  in  due  form  it  is  this :  Do 
the  Gospels  give  us  a  true  picture  of  the  first  age  of 
the  Church?  Touching  the  other  Christian  Scriptures 
the  question  is,  Do  they  truly  represent  the  subjects 
with  which  they  deal?  Hardly  a  thought  can  be  men- 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  DOCUMENTS.         295 

tioned  that  is  made  more  prominent  in  the  Christian 
Writings  than  the  thought  of  growth,  progress,  devel- 
opment, both  in  relation  to  the  individual  life  of  the 
disciple  and  to  the  collective  life  of  the  Church.  The 
kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  a  grain  of  mustard 
seed,  which  a  man  took  and  sowed  in  his  field;  it  is 
like  unto  leaven,  which  a  woman  took  and  hid  in  three 
measures  of  meal.  First  the  blade,  then  the  ear, 
then  the  full  corn  in  the  ear, — this  is  the  law  of 
nature,  and  the  closer  one  studies  The  New  Testament, 
the  more  will  he  see  the  moral  and  ecclesiastical  de- 
velopment there  traced  conforming  to  it. 

Much  has  been  written  about  the  Gospels'  contain- 
ing notes  of  controversies  and  traces  of  tendencies 
that  followed  the  times  of  the  Apostles  by  fifty  or  one 
hundred  years.  They  present  us  doctrines,  it  is  said, 
in  a  form  more  developed  than  that  in  which  Jesus 
left  them.  In  particular  is  it  insisted  that  the  meta- 
physical elements  found  in  the  Fourth  Gospel  could 
not  have  existed  until  a  consideraole  time  after  the 
last  Apostle  had  died.  In  opposition  to  this  view,  I 
contend  that  had  the  Gospels  been  written  as  late  as 
the  middle  of  the  second  century,  they  would  almost 
certainly  have  contained  elements  that  are  not  now 
found  in  them.  The  teachings  are  ethical  and  spirit- 
ual rather  than  theological  and  controversial.  The 
facts  are  plainly  told.  We  find  no  trace  of  the  critic 
or  systematic  theologian.  We  find  the  words  of  a  new 
and  most  original  Teacher,  thrown  out  in  the  most 
spontaneous  manner,  and  not  a  "scheme"  or  "sys- 
tem." The  Gospels  are  rich  in  virgin  ore. 

From  one  point  of  view,  the  great  theme  of  the 


296         THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

Christian  Scriptures  is  the  Church.  Objectively,  this 
passes  through  four  or  five  minor  stages  of  develop- 
ment in  the  period  reaching  from  the  baptism  of 
Jesus  to  the  death  of  John  the  Apostle.  First  is  the 
Church  of  Jesus  in  the  strictest  sense — the  Church  as 
it  was  during  His  own  life.  It  is  in  an  inchoate,  un- 
formed state,  but  its  material  is  undergoing  elabora- 
tion. Jesus  speaks  of  His  Church,  but  He  speaks  al- 
most always  from  the  subjective  standpoint.  He  is, 
in  fact,  wholly  silent  touching  organization  and  office- 
bearers. Second  is  the  Church  of  the  Apostles  in  the 
period  immediately  following"  Pentecost.  The  Apos- 
tles form  the  only  organization,  and  are  the  only  offi- 
cers. Next  succeeds  the  Church  of  the  third  period, 
ushered  in  by  the  appointment  of  the  Seven ;  the  period 
in  which  it  becomes  manifest  that  a  more  elaborate 
organization  is  called  for,  and  in  which  steps  are  taken 
to  furnish  such  an  organization.  Before  the  ministry 
was  homogeneous,  consisting  of  Apostles  alone,  who 
combined  all  offices  and  functions  in  themselves ;  but 
now  the  first  step  towards  differentiation  is  taken. 
Fourthly,  we  are  brought  to  the  Church  of  local  pas- 
tors and  deacons;  the  period  of  which  we  obtain  such 
full  views  in  the  later  chapters  of  The  Acts  and  in 
Paul's  epistles.  Last  of  all  succeeds  the  Revelation, 
in  which  we  seem  to  get  a  glimpse  of  the  bishops  of 
later  times.  All  of  this  is  as  natural  as  natural  can 
be.  We  may  perhaps  say  that  it  was  a  necessary  or- 
der of  development.  But  the  noteworthy  thing  is, 
that  the  pictures  of  the  stages  of  this  evolution  are  as 
natural  as  the  stages  themselves.  Nothing  is  dislocat- 
ed or  out  of  place.  The  Gospels  give  no  f  orecastings. 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  DOCUMENTS.         297 

They  leave  the  unfolding  of  the  ministry  and  govern- 
ment of  the  Church  to  the  books  that  follow  in  the 
order  of  events,  as  absolutely  as  Jesus  left  it  to  the 
Apostles.  Similarly,  the  first  differentiation  of  the 
ministry  came  unheralded.  And  so  on  to  the  end. 

Special  attention  may  be  paid  to  the  history  of  the 
Lord's  Supper.  Three  stages  in  the  development  of 
this  institution  are  presented  in  the  first  age.  Jesu.s 
made  it  an  appendage  of  the  Passover.  He  left  the 
single  command,  "  This  do  in  remembrance  of  me."  * 
Immediately  succeeding  the  Pentecost,  the  disciples 
celebrated  the  Supper  daily,  and  in  their  own  houses. f 
It  was  a  private  commemoration.  But  by  and  by, 
when  the  Church  took  on  a  more  regular  and  settled 
form — as  congregations  grew — the  celebration  became 
a  weekly  public  commemoration,  held  on  the  first  day 
of  the  week.J 

Thus  there  is  an  ecclesiastial  progress.  Moreover, 
the  manner  in  which  this  progress  is  reflected  in  the 
several  books  is  an  excellent  witness  to  their  faithful- 
ness. We  have  the  Church  of  the  Gospels,  the  Church 
of  the  earlier  chapters  of  The  Acts,  the  Church  of 
the  later  Acts  and  of  the  Epistles,  and  the  Church 
of  the  Revelation.  In  short,  so  far  as  ecclesiastical 
order  is  concerned,  any  man  may  be  challenged  to 
show  that  there  is  the  slightest  confusion  or  displace- 
ment. Lord  Bacon  called  one  of  the  parts  of  his 
great  philosophical  scheme,  "Prodomi  sive  anticipa- 
tiones;"  that  is,  "  f orerunnings  or  anticipations  "  of 
what  would  result  from  the  adoption  of  his  philoso- 
phy. The  Christian  Writings  contain  ' '  f  orerunnings ' ' 

*  Luke  xxii.  19.         f  Acts  ii.  46,  47.  J  Acts  xx.  7. 


293        THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

and  "anticipations"  as  respects  spiritual  develop- 
ment; but  the  absence  of  anticipations  in  doctrinal  or 
in  Church  development  shows  how  strictly  things  are 
kept  in  their  places,  and  furnishes  admirable  proof  of 
the  general  faithfulness  of  the  reports  found  in  the 
books  themselves.  It  has  often  been  urged  that  the 
Gospels  must  have  been  written  before  the  downfall 
of  Jerusalem  in  the  year  70,  because  if  they  had  ap- 
peared afterwards  (the  argument  runs)  their  authors 
would  have  claimed  that  their  Master's  predictions 
had  been  fulfilled.  This  argument,  somewhat  changed 
in  application,  may  be  applied  in  a  more  sweeping 
way.  The  Gospels  contain  no  notes  of  admiration, 
and  but  slight  commentaries;  it  is  not  claimed  that 
the  words  or  the  acts  of  Jesus  had  been  justified  by 
subsequent  history;  the  developments  of  the  second 
and  third  ages  are  not  anticipated.  Even  in  the  sec- 
ond century,  professed  believers  of  all  kinds  appealed 
to  the  memorials  of  the  first  age  in  proof  of  their  sev- 
eral doctrines  and  practices.  Heretics  did  not  fall 
behind  Catholic  Christians  in  this  regard.  And  so  it 
has  ever  been.  The  very  universality  and  confidence 
with  which  this  appeal  has  been  made,  and  is  still 
made,  to  the  earliest  literature  of  Christian  antiquity, 
is  evidence  that  the  pictures  of  antiquity  are  natural, 
and  are  not  the  work  of  men  whose  aim  was  to  fix 
"tendencies."  This  reasoning  is  not  conclusive 
as  to  the  precise  date  at  which  the  books  were  writ- 
ten, but  it  is  conclusive  as  to  their  general  faithful- 
ness. 

Finally,  it  may  be  stated  that  the  character  of  The 
New  Testament  documents  has  a  very  important  bear- 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  DOCUMENTS.          299 

ing  on  their  interpretation.  A  s}rstematic  treatise,  the 
work  of  one  mind,  is  one  thing;  a  collection  of  let- 
ters and  narratives,  the  work  of  several  minds,  is  quite 
another  thing.  However,  the  development  of  this 
suggestion  does  not  belong  to  this  monograph. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE    CANON   IN   ITS   FIRST   STAGE. 

THERE  was  a  Gospel  and  a  Church  years  before 
there  were  Gospels  and  Epistles.  There  were  Epis- 
tles and  Gospels  decades  before  there  was  a  New  Tes- 
tament. The  making  of  The  New  Testament  in- 
volved two  steps  wholly  separate  and  distinct;  the 
composition  of  the  writings  that  compose  it,  and  the 
collection  of  these  writings  into  one  authenticated 
body.  The  writings  were  produced  separately  and 
spontaneously;  the  collection  was  made  slowly,  pro- 
gressively, and  almost  equally  spontaneously.  The 
New  Testament  had  no  editor  or  publisher  in  any 
sense  known  to  literature.  How  the  books  were  col- 
lected and  authenticated — that  is,  how  the  Canon  was 
made  up — I  shall  in  this  and  two  succeeding  chapters 
attempt  to  show. 

First  of  all,  we  must  divest  our  minds  wholly  of 
the  idea  conveyed  by  the  name  "New  Testament;" 
we  must  start  from  the  time  when  there  was  no  such 
book  in  existence,  but  only  the  materials  out  of  which 
it  was  afterwards  made.  In  studying  historical  ques- 
tions, we  are  only  too  apt  to  forget  chronology. 

Looking  at  a  man  whose  life  is  finished,  especially  if 

(300) 


THE  CANON  IN  ITS  FIRST  STAGE.  301 

he  lived  many  centuries  ago,  we  forget  that  he  was  a 
growth,  and  see  him,  or  seem  to  see  him,  as  he  was  at 
the  culmination  of  his  career.  We  make  similar  mis- 
takes in  dealing  with  systems  of  doctrine  and  bodies 
of  literature. 

Secondly,  The  New  Testament  contains  twenty- 
seven  distinct  documents,  attributed  to  eight  differ- 
ent writers.  Each  of  these  documents  is  complete  in 
itself;  not  complete,  indeed,  in  the  sense  that  it  ex- 
hausts the  subject,  but  in  the  sense  that  it  is  not  a 
part  of  a  larger  whole.  We  are  able  to  throw  them, 
with  two  or  three  exceptions,  into  groups:  books  ad- 
dressed to  single  individuals,  books  addressed  to  sin- 
gle churches,  books  addressed  to  groups  of  churches, 
and  books  addressed  to  classes  of  persons. 

1.  The  books  addressed  to  single  individuals  are 
the  Third  Gospel,  The  Acts,  the  Epistles  to  Timothy, 
to  Titus,  and  to  Philemon,  and  Second  and   Third 
John,  seven  in  all. 

2.  The  books  addressed  to  single  churches  are  the 
Epistles  to  the  Romans,  to  the  Corinthians,  to  the 
Ephesians,  to  the  Philippians,  to  the  Colossians,  and 
Thessalonians,  eight  in  number. 

3.  The  books  addressed  to  groups  of  churches  are 
Galatians,  First  Peter,  First  John,  and   E-evelation. 
Gralatians  and  Revelation  are  formally  dedicated,  the 
one  to  the  Churches  of  Galatia,  the  other  to  the  Seven 
Churches  of  Asia;    but  in  the  other  two  cases  we  are 
left  to  infer  the  fact  from    the    character    of    the 
books  themselves. 

4.  It  is  the  ancient  tradition  that  Matthew  wrote 
for  the  immediate  use  and  benefit  of  Jewish  disciples 


302        THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

in  Palestine,  and  that  idea  is  supported  by  internal 
evidence.  Similar  evidence  shows  that  Mark  wrote 
for  Gentile  Christians.  The  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews 
was  immediately  intended  for  Hebrew  disciples,  and 
the  Epistle  of  James  is  addressed  to  them  in  terms. 
Hence  we  may  say  they  were  all  addressed  to  particu- 
lar classes  of  persons. 

This  grouping  takes  in  all  the  twenty-seven  books 
but  the  Fourth  Gospel  and  Second  Peter.  It  is  im- 
possible to  determine  with  certainty  what  special  des- 
tination these  books  originally  had.  Second  Peter  is 
classed  as  a  "general"  epistle. 

From  the  very  nature  of  the  case,  these  writings 
would  soon  begin  to  get  into  circulation,  at  first  lo- 
cally, then  generally.  No  doubt  this  was  anticipated 
by  their  authors.  In  fact,  those  books  that  were 
addressed  to  churches  in  great  cities,  like  the  Epistle 
to  the  Romans,  or  to  groups  of  churches,  like  that 
to  the  Galatians,  may  be  said  to  have  had  a  "circula- 
tion" from  the  beginning.  Copies  would  assuredly  be 
made  from  the  autographs,  and,  for  the  same  reason, 
collections  of  documents  would  be  made.  The  same 
impulse  that  would  lead  believers  and  groups  of  be- 
lievers, such  as  congregations,  to  desire  single  books, 
would  lead  them  to  make  up  collections  of  books. 

However,  this  impulse  was  less  strong  in  both  di- 
rections than  we  would  at  first  suppose.  First,  the 
literary  spirit  was  exceedingly  feeble  in  ancient  times 
as  compared  with  modern  times.  Few  men,  relative- 
ly, read  books,  and  the  mass  of  men  were  dependent 
upon  oral  instruction.  Moreover,  the  first  churches 
were  planted  by  Apostles  or  by  Apostolic  men.  These 


THE  CANON  IN  ITS  FIRST  STAGE.  303 

were  the  churches  of  the  Oral  Testimony.  They 
knew  only  the  Gospel  that  had  been  preached  unto 
them.  Apostles  and  Apostolic  men  stood  out  in 
grand  proportions  before  a  book  had  been  written. 
Churches  prized  most  highly  books  that  had  been  writ- 
ten to  themselves,  and  next,  books  written  to  other 
churches  by  men  with  whom  they  were  acquainted. 
But,  naturally,  in  the  estimation  of  churches,  no 
books  took,  or  could  take,  the  places  of  the  men  who 
had  planted  or  watered  them.  By  and  by,  however, 
the  well  known  Apostle  or  Evangelist  ceased  to  make 
his  visits ;  the  older  members  of  the  churches  passed 
away,  and  writings  became  invested  with  a  new  inter- 
est. However,  the  equalization  of  writings  and  men 
was  slow  in  coming;  even  slower,  perhaps,  was  the 
equalization  of  the  new  Scriptures  and  the  old  ones, 
at  least  in  the  estimation  of  the  Hebrew  disciples, 
who  were  devoted  to  the  Hebrew  writings,  and  who, 
antecedently,  never  thought  of  a  second  canon  of 
Scripture.  Still  further,  we  must  not  overestimate 
the  length  that  the  desire  to  possess  collections  of 
Epistles  and  Gospels  carried  the  disciples  of  that 
day.  To  say  that  they  desired  collections  is  one  thing; 
to  say  that  they  desired  full  collections  is  quite  anoth- 
er. In  fact,  the  idea  of  a  Canon  took  shape  in  the 
Church  consciousness  slowly, — the  idea,  namely,  that 
writings  of  such  and  such  a  character  were  authorita- 
tive, like  the  preaching  of  Jesus  and  the  Apostles, — 
that  there  was  a  definite  number  of  such  writings, 
that  these  writings  could  be  separated  from  all  others 
into  one  whole, — the  developed  idea  of  The  New  Tes- 
tament. How  early  this  thought  was  fully  formed — 


304         THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

how  early  its  practical  realization  became  an  object  of 
desire  and  effort — we  cannot  tell;  but,  certainly,  it 
was  not  until  great  numbers  of  small  collections  of 
books  had  been  made.  It  may  trouble  us  to  conceive 
of  a  Christian  who  is  without  the  conception  of  a 
New  Testament,  even  if  he  is  not  the  possessor  of 
one;  but  it  is  clear  that  several  generations  of 
Christians  must  have  passed  away  before  that  concep- 
tion became  fully  and  clearly  defined.  Accordingly, 
we  must  not  expect  too  much  in  our  first  search  for 
collections  of  Gospels  and  Epistles. 

Taken  in  connection  with  our  knowledge  of  the 
writers,  the  descriptions  of  the  books  given  above  tell 
us  at  what  points  the  books  were  first  published,  and 
the  regions  in  which  most  of  them  first  circulated.  It 
is  reasonably  certain  that  Matthew  and  the  Epistle  of 
James  first  circulated  in  Palestine;  Mark  and  the 
Epistle  to  the  Romans,  in  Italy;  the  Epistles  to  the 
Corinthians  and  the  Thessalonians,  to  Timothy  and 
to  Titus,  in  the  cities  of  Greece  and  Asia  Minor; 
the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  and  First  Peter,  in 
Central  and  Northern  Asia  Minor;  the  writings  of 
the  Apostle  John,  in  the  vicinity  of  Ephesus.  Taking 
either  Corinth  or  Ephesus  as  a  center,  three-fourths 
of  The  New  Testament  documents  lay  within  a  com- 
paratively narrow  compass.  To  form  the  Canon  was 
to  bring  all  the  books  into  one  collection,  and  to 
stamp  both  the  books  and  the  Canon  with  the  ap- 
proval of  the  general  body  of  believers.  As  pointed 
out  before,  partial  and  imperfect  Canons  long  pro- 
ceeded a  complete  and  final  one;  besides,  these  imper- 
fect collections  differed  considerably  in  different  parts 


THE  CANON  IN  ITS  FIRST  STAGE.  305 

of  the  Roman   Empire.      This,  too,  was  natural,  in 
fact  unavoidable. 

Two  of  The  New  Testament  books  contain  allusions 
to  other  books.  One  allusion  is  made  by  the  author 
of  The  Acts  to  "the  former  treatise"  which  he  had 
addressed  to  Theophilus.  The  other  is  made  by  the 
author  of  Second  Peter,  and  is  for  our  purpose  much 
more  significant.  It  is  this:  "And  account  that  the 
long-suffering  of  our  Lord  is  salvation;  even  as  our 
beloved  brother  Paul  also  according  to  the  wisdom 
given  unto  him  hath  written  unto  you;  as  also  in  all  his 
epistles,  speaking  in  them  of  these  things;  in  which 
are  some  things  hard  to  be  understood,  which  they  that 
are  unlearned  and  unstable  wrest,  as  they  do  also  the 
other  Scriptures,  unto  their  own  destruction."!  This 
passage  proves,  (1)  That  the  writer  of  the  epistle  is 
addressing  an  audience  that  Paul  had  before  ad- 
dressed in  the  same  manner;  (2)  That  he  is 
acquainted  with  a  number  of  Paul's  epistles;  (3) 
That  these  epistles  are  also  in  the  hands  of  those  to 
whom  he  is  writing,  and  that  they  have,  therefore, 
attained  a  considerable  currency;  (4)  That  these 
epistles  are  regarded  as  Scripture.  We  cannot  in- 
need  fairly  infer  that  all  of  Paul's  epistles  had  been 
gathered  into  one  collection,  or  even  that  they  had  all 
been  written.  The  clause,  "as  they  do  also  the  other 
Scriptures,"  is  exceedingly  suggestive;  for  theJJewish 
disciples  held  the  Jewish  Scriptures  in  the  same  rev- 
erence as  the  other  Jews,  and  they  did  not  readily 
take  up  the  idea  that  there  could  be  Scriptures  not 
found  in  The  Old  Testament. 

t  Chap.  iii.  15,  16. 
20 


306         THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

The  Christian  writings  that  next  followed  the 
books  of  The  New  Testament  are  those  known  as 
"The  Apostolic  Fathers,"  filling  the  period  70 — 
120  A.  D.  They  are  the  Epistles  of  Clement,  Poly- 
carp,  Barnabas,  Ignatius,  the  Epistle  to  Diognetus, 
Hermas,  and  Papias.  Three  or  four  of  these  men- 
tion New  Testament  documents.  Clement  refers  to 
First  Corinthians,  Ignatius  to  Ephesians,  Polycarp  to 
Philippians,  Papias  to  Matthew  and  Mark.  Much 
more,  these  writings  abound  in  allusions  to  New  Tes- 
tament books,  and  in  quotations  from  them.  For  ex- 
ample, the  "Index  of  Texts"  in  the  Apostolic  Fath- 
ers found  in  the  Ante-Nicene  Christian  Library  con- 
tains fully  four  hundred  references  to  such  quota- 
tions, allusions,  or  coincidences,  including  all  The 
New  Testament  books  but  a  few  of  the  shortest  Epis- 
tles. These  references,  allusions,  and  quotations 
prove  conclusively  that  the  Apostolic  Fathers,  and 
the  Church  of  their  time,  were  familiar  with  at  least 
two-thirds  of  the  documents  now  found  in  the  Chris- 
tian Canon,  and  with  much  more  than  two  thirds  of 
the  material.  But  while  the  writings  of  this  age  are 
so  satisfactory  as  to  the  existence  and  currency  of  The 
New  Testament  books,  they  contain  no  reference  or 
allusion  to  collections  of  such  books.  Accordingly, 
they  throw  no  light  whatever  upon  the  progress  that 
had  been  made  in  making  up  the  Canon.  Here  it  may 
be  observed  that  while  the  name  of  a  book,  an  allu- 
sion to  it,  or  a'quotation  from  it,  proves  its  currency 
in  the  time  of  the  one  writing  it,  the  absence  of  these 
marks  does  not  prove  the  contrary.  No  more  does 
the  silence  of  the  Apostolic  Fathers  prove  that  an 


THE  CANON  IN  ITS  FIRST  STAGE.  307 

incipient  Canon  did  not  exist.  The  most  skeptical 
can  claim  no  more  than  that  we  are  left  in  darkness. 
But  while  these  writers  mention  no  collections  of 
books,  it  is  clear  that  such  collections  had  been  made, 
imperfect  ones  of  course,  and  that  some  of  them  had 
access  to  them.  If  this  were  not  the  case,  these 
writings  would  not  abound,  as  they  do  abound,  in 
quotations  and  allusions.  It  is  manifest  that  collec- 
tions would  begin  to  be  formed  just  as  soon  as  the 
books  began  to  get  into  circulation. 

NOTE  ON  THE  WORD  "CANON.  "—The  Greek  lexicons  define 
the  word  kanon  as  any  straight  rod  or  pole.  It  is  used  espec- 
ially to  keep  a  thing  upright  or  straight,  to  regulate  and  order 
it.  Liddell  and  Scott  give  four  cases:  (1)  The  rods  of  a 
shield — those  to  which  the  rim  is  fastened,  or  those  to  which  the 
handle  is  attached;  (2)  A  rod  or  bar  used  in  weaving;  (3) 
Any  rod  used  for  measuring,  as  a  carpenter's  rule,  a  testing  - 
rod,  or  a  plumb-line ;  (4)  The  beam  of  a  balance.  Metaphoric- 
ally, a  kanon  is  anything  that  serves  to  fix,  regulate,  deter- 
mine, other  things,  that  is,  a  rule.  In  this  sense,  the  Greeks 
had  their  canons,  (kanones)  of  ethics,  music,  and  art.  With 
the  exception  of  those  found  in  The  Septuagint,  all  the  strictly 
ecclesiastical  uses  are  metaphorical . 

The  word  occurs  three  times  in  the  Epistles :  ' '  And  as  many 
as  walk  according  to  this  rule"  (kanoni)  Gal.  vi.  16; 
' '  Whereunto  we  have  already  attained,  let  us  walk  by  the  same 
rule,"  (kanoni)  Phil.  iii.  16.  In  the  first  of  these  passages, 
the  Gospel  rule  of  faith  is  signified;  in  the  second,  the  rule 
determined  by  the  spiritual  attainments  of  those  addressed. 
The  other  passage  will  be  presently  cited. 

Kanon  is  found  in  early  Christian  literature.  We  read  of 
"the  sound  rule  of  the  saving  proclamation;''  "the  Rule  of 
Christian  Teaching;"  the  Rule  of  Truth,  of  Faith,  of  the 
Church.  "At  one  time,"  says  Westcott,  "it  is  an  abstract 
ideal  standard,  handed  down  to  successive  generations,  the 
inner  law,  as  it  were,  which  regulated  the  growth  and  action 


308         THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

of  the  Church,  felt  rather  than  expressed ;  realized  rather  than 
defined.  At  another  time  it  is  a  concrete  form,  a  set  creed, 
embodying  the  great  principles  which  characterized  the  doctrine 
and  practice  of  the  Catholic  Church. ' ' — On  the  Canon  of  the 
N.  T.,  Appendix  A. 

But  kanon  had  a  definite  passive  meaning ;  that  is ,  it  meant 
the  thing  measured,  ruled,  determined,  as  well  as  the  measure 
or  the  rule.  The  third  passage  in  the  Epistles  illustrates  this 
use:  "To  preach  the  Gqspel  in  the  regions  beyond  you,  and 
not  to  boast  in  another  man's  line  of  things,  (kanoni,)  made 
ready  to  our  hand. ' '  2  Cor.  x.  16. 

"Canonical"  and  "canonize,"  derivations  from  kanon, 
also  have  this  double  meaning.  An  object  that  was  canonized, 
and  was  therefore  canonical,  was  one  that  had  been  measured 
or  approved. 

It  follows,  therefore,  that  the  Canonical  Scriptures  may  have 
been  so-called,  (1)  Because  they  contain  the  Christian  standard 
of  faith  and  practice — a  rule  to  be  applied ;  or  (2)  Because  they 
had  been  canonized — that  is,  approved  or  ratified — by  the 
Church.  Both  views  are  held.  Westcott  decides  in  favor  of 
the  second,  and  his  arguments  seem  to  be  decisive.  Kanon  was 
first  applied  to  the  Scripture,  so  far  as  can  be  determined,  by 
Athanasius ;  but  Origen  had  used  the  derivatives  ' '  canonical ' ' 
and  "canonize"  in  the  same  connection  in  the  previous 
century. 

Toward  the  close  of  the  fourth  century,  Amphilochius,  Bishop 
of  Iconium,  gives  a  catalogue  of  the  books  of  The  Old  and  New 
Testaments  and  adds:  "This  would  be  the  most  unerring 
Canon  of  the  inspired  Scripture. ' '  He  means  that  the  index  or 
catalogue  which  he  has  just  given  is  a  rule  or  measure  to  deter- 
mine what  is  Scripture  and  what  is  not.  This  is  the  earliest  use 
of  the  word  in  this  sense  found  in  ancient  literature.  Three 
uses  of  the  phrase  ' '  Canon  of  Scripture ' '  have  now  been 
pointed  out:  1.  The  Scriptures  themselves,  as  a  Rule  of  Faith 
and  Practice;  2.  The  Scriptures  collectively,  as  sanctioned 
by  the  Church ;  3.  The  list  or  catalogue  of  sacred  books.  The 
present  aim  is  to  show  how  the  collection  was  made  up— how 
the  list  was  formed. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE   CANON   IN    ITS    SECOND    STAGE. 

THE  precise  nature  of  the  present  inquiry  must  be 
kept  steadily  in  mind.  It  is  not  so  much  to  discover 
what  documents  existed  and  circulated  as  Christian 
Scriptures  in  the  times  with  which  we  are  dealing,  as 
it  is  to  discover  what  progress  had  been  made  in  mak- 
ing up  The  New  Testament.  The  last  chapter  brought 
us  to  the  second  quarter  of  the  second  century. 

"It  is  a  very  significant  fact,"  says  Bishop  West- 
cott,  "that  the  first  quotation  of  a  book  of  The  New 
Testament  as  Scripture,  the  first  commentary  on  an 
Apostolic  writing,  and  the  first  known  Canon  of  The 
New  Testament,  come  from  heretical  authors."  *  The 
reference  made  in  the  last  item  is  to  Marcion,  the 
famous  heretic,  who  is  so  prominent  a  figure  in  the 
second  century.  We  first  hear  of  Marcion  in  Pontus, 
on  the  southern  shore  of  the  Black  Sea,  where  his 
father  was  a  bishop.  We  are  not  concerned  with  his 
life,  his  doctrines,  or  with  his  influence,  but  only  with 
his  relation  to  our  topic. 

About  the  year  150  Marcion  came  from  Pontus  to 
Rome,  bringing  with  him  the  first  New  Testament 

*0n  the  Canon  of  the  N.  T.,  p.  282,  Note. 
(309) 


310         THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

canon  of  which  there  is  any  trace  in  literature.  This 
canon  consists  of  two  parts:  "The  Gospel"  and 
"The  Apostolicon."  The  first  was  a  recension  of 
Luke,  the  second  a  collection  of  ten  of  Paul's  Epis- 
tles. The  Pauline  Epistles  that  were  omitted  were 
First  and  Second  Timothy,  Titus,  and  Hebrews.  Mar- 
cion  claimed  that  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  had  be- 
come greatly  corrupted,  and  he  proposed  to  be  a 
purifier  and  restorer.  He  denied  that  he  was  an  inno- 
vator in  any  other  sense  than  this — he  aimed  to  bring 
back  the  pure  doctrine  of  earlier  and  happier  times. 
He  considered  Paul  the  only  true  Apostle,  and  he  con- 
structed his  canon  from  that  point  of  view.  He  accept- 
ed Luke,  or  a  form  of  Luke,  because  this  could  be  con- 
nected with  the  preaching  of  Paul,  and  all  the  other 
Gospels  he  rejected.  History  throws  no  light  upon 
the  question  why  he  rejected  The  Acts  and  the  Pas- 
toral Epistles,  and  we  need  not  resort  to  conjecture. 
The  remaining  books  were  thrown  aside,  of  course, 
because  they  were  not  Pauline.  In  the  estimation  of 
what  now  began  to  call  itself  the  Catholic  Church, 
Marcion  was  a  heretic.  He  spent  most  of  his  active 
life  in  conflicts  with  men  of  the  Catholic  faith,  and 
proved  himself  a  most  courageous  and  formidable 
controversialist.  In  carrying  on  their  contentions, 
both  parties  must  appeal  to  some  authority.  As  all 
the  Apostles  and  Apostolic  men  were  now  dead,  the 
appeal  could  be  made  to  only  two  sources, — the  oral 
tradition  handed  down  in  the  churches,  and  Christian 
Scriptures.  As  there  was  no  accepted  canon — the  Can- 
on then  being  in  course  of  formation — nothing  was 
more  natural  than  that  the  appeal  to  Scripture  should 


THE  CANON  IN  ITS  SECOND  STAGE.  311 

raise  the  question,  "  What  is  Scripture?  "  To  a  con- 
siderable degree,  the  controversies  started  by  Marcion 
raged  around  this  question.  Mansion's  own  answer 
was  given  in  his  "Gospel"  and  "Apostolicon."  It 
does  not  appear  that  any  of  his  contemporary  antago- 
nists answered  by  producing  a  definite  list.  Two 
things  are,  however,  evident:  (1)  That  all  parties 
believed  in  genuine,  authentic,  and  authoritative  New 
Testament  Scriptures;  (2)  That  all  parties  admitted 
that  these  Scriptures  should  be  identified.  It  has 
been  conjectured  that  the  canon  which  Marcion 
brought  to  Rome  was  the  nucleus  of  the  Catholic 
Canon  of  later  times;  and  the  conjecture  is  sup- 
ported, it  is  said,  by  the  fact  that  Marcion's  is  the 
first  formal  canon  of  which  we  have  any  knowledge. 
However,  the  facts  point  to  the  conclusion  that  Mar- 
cion's canon  was  an  innovation.  In  the  early  ages  of 
the  Church,  when  so  much  depended  on  tradition  and 
general  understanding,  innovations  were  commonly 
put  in  definite  literary  forms  sooner  than  the  doc- 
trines and  practices  from  which  they  were  departures. 
Heterodoxy  commonly  found  literary  expression 
earlier  than  orthodoxy.  The  first  creeds,  for  exam- 
ple, were  the  replies  of  the  Church  to  heretics  and 
heresies.  Thus,  the  articles  of  the  Apostolic  Creed, — 
the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Spirit, — were  an- 
swers to  the  principal  Gnostic  doctrines;  just  as  the 
expansion  of  the  same  articles  put  forth  at  Nicea 
were  answers  to  the  views  of  Arius.  Bishop  West- 
cott  therefore  says  it  should  not  be  forgotten  that 
the  adversaries  of  Marcion  "  always  charge  him  with 
innovating  something  which  already  existed,  and  not 


312         THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

with  endeavoring  to  impose  a  test  which  was  not  gen- 
erally received."*  All  in  all,  it  seems  safe  to  conclude 
with  the  learned  Bishop,  that,  although  a  definite 
canon  of  the  Apostolic  Writings  had  not  been  pub- 
lished in  Asia  Minor,  it  "was  yet  implicitly  deter- 
mined by  the  practice  of  the  Church."  Still  this 
"implicitly  determined"  canon  must  have  been  in- 
complete, as  we  shall  see  hereafter. 

The  Christian  literature  produced  in  the  period  120- 
170,  both  Catholic  and  heretical,  is  full  of  evidence 
to  the  existence  and  currency  of  most  of  The  New 
Testament,  but  they  contain  no  mention  of  any 
canon  save  Marcion's.  It  should  be  remarked,  how- 
ever, that  the  absence  of  such  mention  does  not  prove 
a  negative. 

The  literature  of  the  second  half  of  the  second 
century  throws  a  flood  of  light  upon  our  inquiry.  It 
is  the  age  of  Clement,  Irenseus,  and  Tertullian,  of 
the  Muratori  Fragment  and  the  Peshito  Version. 
This  chapter  will  take  account  only  of  the  two  last. 

The  Muratori  Fragment?  is  a  fragment  of  a  manu- 
script written  in  Latin  about  the  year  170.  It  is  found 
in  Rome,  and  is  peculiarly  interesting  in  connection 
with  the  Western  Church.  The  Peshito  Version  is  a 
translation  of  The  New  Testament  into  Syriac  that 
was  made,  no  doubt,  in  the  region  of  the  Euphrates 
about  the  same  time.  The  Fragment  is  incomplete, 
as  its  name  suggests.  The  catalogue  of  books  that  it 
contains  begins  with  Luke,  which  is  called  "the  third 
book  of  the  Gospel;"  but  there  is  no  room  to  doubt 

*  On  the  Canon  of  the  New  Testament,  p.  281,  et.  seq. 


THE  CANON  IN  ITS  SECOND  STAGE. 


313 


that  it  originally  began  with  Matthew  followed  by 
Mark.  The  following  lists  contain  the  books  found 
in  the  two  documents,  though  not  in  this  order. 


MURATORI  FRAGMENT. 


Luke. 
John. 
Acts. 
Romans. 

I.  Corinthians. 

II.  Corinthians. 
G-alatians. 
Ephesians. 
Philippians. 
Colossians. 

I.  Thessalonians. 

II.  Thessalonians. 

I.  Timothy. 

II.  Timothy. 
Titus. 
Philemon. 


II.  John. 

III.  John. 
Jude. 
Revelation. 


PESHITO  VERSION. 
Matthew. 
Mark. 
Luke. 
John. 
Acts. 
Romans. 

I.  Corinthians. 

II.  Corinthians. 
Galatians. 
Ephesians. 
Philippians. 
Colossians. 

I.  Thessalonians. 

II.  Thessalonians. 

I.  Timothy. 

II.  Timothy. 
Titus. 
Philemon. 
Hebrews. 
James. 

I.  Peter. 


I.  John. 


These  lists  suggest  some  interesting  remarks : 

1.     The  Fragment  mentions  several  books  not  here 

named,    which    were    not    finally   received    by     the 

Church;     also  an  Apocalypse  of  Peter,   " which,"  it 

says,   "some  of  our  body  will  not  have  read  in  the 


314         THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

Church."     The  Peshito   contains  no  book  not  found 
in  our  canon. 

2.  The     two     lists    contain     eighteen     books    in 
common. 

3.  Together  the  two  lists  contain   all   the   books 
found  in  our  New  Testament   except  Second  Peter ; 
and  it  should  be  remarked  that  no  other  book  rests  on 
such  slender  historical  evidence. 

4.  Found,  the  one  in  Italy,  the  other  Syria,  these 
two  documents  speak  for  the  Western  and  Oriental 
Churches  in  the  second  half  of  the   second   century. 
They  show  what  was  read  in  the  West  and  East  as 
Christian  Scripture.      The  Fragment  speaks  through- 
out of  "received  and  general  opinion,"  and  often  re- 
fers to  "the  Catholic  Church." 

Again,  these  two  lists  suggest  some  interesting  ques- 
tions, as,  for  example,  this  one:  "How  are  we  to  ex- 
plain the  omissions  from  them,  on  the  theory  that  the 
books  omitted  circulated  as  Scripture  in  the  second 
half  of  the  second  century?"  A  full  answer  to  this 
question  would  embrace  two  classes  of  facts;  facts 
that  are  peculiar  to  these  documents,  and  facts  that 
relate  to  all  similar  catalogues  of  the  second  and  third 
centuries.  Only  the  first  branch  of  the  inquiry  will 
be  touched  in  this  place. 

The  omission  of  Matthew  and  Mark  from  the 
Fragment  has  already  been  explained.  Bishop  West- 
cott  says  the  character  of  the  other  omissions  help 
to  explain  them.  First  John  is  not  mentioned,  but 
is  quoted  in  the  early  part  of  the  manuscript.  There 
is  no  evidence  that  First  Peter  was  ever  disputed, 
and  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  and  the  Epistle  of 


THE  CANON  IN  ITS  SECOND  STAGE.  315 

James  were  well  known  in  Rome,  as  we  know  from 
other  evidence.  Hence  the  cause  of  the  omissions  (the 
Bishop  argues)  can  not  have  been  ignorance  or  doubt. 
It  must  be  sought  in  the  original  character  of  the 
writing,  or  in  the  condition  of  the  existing  text.  On 
either  supposition  it  is  easy  to  explain  the  omissions; 
even  as  the  Fragment  now  stands,  we  may  perhaps 
find  traces  of  books  which  it  does  not  notice.  The 
learned  writer,  however,  leans  to  the  theory  that  the 
document  was  not  complete  or  continuous  in  the  first 
place,  but  was  made  up  of  different  passages  from 
some  unknown  author.  He  also  holds  that  the  omis- 
sions of  the  Peshito  admit  of  easy  explanation.  For 
this  purpose  he  refers  to  the  inconclusive  character 
of  the  historical  evidence  of  Second  Peter;  the 
Apocalypse,  which  was  little  known  in  the  East,  rests 
chiefly  on  the  authority  of  the  Western  Church;  and 
the  two  shorter  and  private  letters  of  John  could 
hardly  have  obtained  currency  in  Mesopotamia  in  the 
second  half  of  the  second  century.* 

It  must  all  the  time  be  borne  in  mind  that  our  aim 
is  merely  to  show  the  Canon  in  process  of  formation, 
and  not  to  exhibit  the  evidence  relative  to  the  cur- 
rency of  The  New  Testament  documents.  Were  the 
latter  our  object,  we  should  be  obliged  to  find  large 
room  for  the  testimony  of  such  writers  as  Clement,' 
Turtullian,  and  Irenseus. 

Clement,  for  instance,  makes  quotations  from,  or 
allusions  to,  the  Gospels,  Acts,  Romans,  1  and  2 
Corinthians,  Galatians,  Ephesians,  Philippians,  Colos- 
sians,  1  and  2  Thessalonians,  1  and  2  Timothy,  Titus, 

*  On  the  Canon  of  The  New  Testament,  pp.  190,  et  aeq.;  pp.  213,  et  seq. 


316         THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

Hebrews,  1  Peter,  1  John,  Jude,  Revelation.  His  quo- 
tations and  allusions  are  nearly  one  thousand  in  num- 
ber. So  accurate  is  Clement  that  his  quotations  are 
of  great  value  for  critical  purposes.  In  his  " Against 
Marcion,"  Tertullian  quotes  from  nineteen  books  of 
The  New  Testament,  sometimes  naming  them.  They 
are  the  four  Gospels,  Acts,  Romans,  2  Corinthians, 
Galatians,  Ephesians,  Philippians,  Colossians,  and  2 
Thessalonians,  1  Timothy,  1  Peter,  1  John,  and  Rev- 
elation. In  this  single  work  his  quotations  and  allu- 
sions are  more  than  seven  hundred  in  number,  some 
of  them  slight,  others  including  several  verses.  He 
makes  two  hundred  and  seventy-five  from  John's 
Gospel  alone.  In  "Against  Heresies"  and  in  the 
fragments  of  his  lost  writings,  Irenseus  recognizes  in 
the  same  way  twenty-five  books,  viz. :  the  four  Gos- 
pels, Acts,  Romans,  1  and  2  Corinthians,  Galatians, 
Ephesians,  Colossians,  Philippians,  1  and  2  Thessa- 
lonians, 1  and  2  Timothy,  Titus,  Hebrews,  James, 
1  and  2  Peter,  1  and  2  John,  and  Jude.  His  quo- 
tations and  allusions  are  even  more  numerous  than 
Tertullian's. 


CHAPTER  X. 

FURTHER   HISTORY   OF   THE    CANON. 

IN  the  last  chapter  it  was  shown  that,  in  the  second 
half  of  the  second  century,  the  Canon  of  The  New 
Testament  had  reached  a  high  degree  of  complete- 
ness. I  mean  the  collecting  and  authenticating  of  the 
books,  in  contradistinction  to  their  composition.  It 
was  shown  that  the  Muratori  Fragment  and  the 
Peshito  Version,  in  the  form  in  which  they  come 
down  to  us,  each  contain  the  titles  of  sixteen  of  the 
books  found  in  The  New  Testament,  and  that  in  the 
original  form  of  the  Fragment  they  contain  each 
eighteen  titles,  viz. :  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  John, 
Acts,  Romans,  1  Corinthians,  2  Corinthians,  Gala- 
tians,  Ephesians,  Philippians,  Colossians,  1  Thessa- 
lonians,  2  Thessalonians,  1  Timothy,  2  Timothy, 
Titus,  and  Philemon.  It  was  shown,  also,  that  the 
Fragment  contains  2  John,  3  John,  Jude,  and  Rev- 
elation, which'  are  not  found  in  the  Peshito,  and 
that  the  Peshito  contains  Hebrews,  James,  1  Peter, 
and  1  John,  which  are  not  found  in  the  Fragment. 
Only  Second  Peter  therefore  is  missing  from  both 
lists.  If  we  should  pursue  the  inquiry  through  the 

remaining  literature   of  the  period,   we   should  find 

(317) 


318         THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

abundant  confirmatory  evidence  of  these  conclusions. 
Thus,  Clement  makes  quotations  from  or  allusions  to 
twenty-two  New  Testament  books;  in  one  of  his 
works  alone  Tertullian  quotes  from  nineteen,  while 
Irenseus  recognizes  twenty-five  books  in  a  single  work. 
Here,  as  before,  a  writer's  failure  to  recognize  a  book 
does  not  prove  that  it  did  not  exist  and  circulate. 

One  proposition  is  therefore  clear,  viz. :  That  the 
list  of  New  Testament  writings — that  is,  The  New 
Testament  Canon — was  substantially  agreed  upon  as 
early  as  the  second  half  of  the  second  century.  To 
put  the  thought  in  another  form,  fully  three-fourths 
of  the  writings  now  found  in  The  New  Testament  had 
then  attained  a  general  currency  and  authority 
throughout  the  widely-extended  Church.  In  a  few 
cases  the  Church  had  not  yet  made  up  its  mind ;  a 
few  books  were  still  in  doubt;  but  it  cannot  be  said 
that,  if  all  the  books  that  were  doubtful  or  disputed 
were  rejected,  the  historical  basis  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion would  be  in  any  way  weakened.  By  this  time, 
too,  the  idea  of  a  New  Testament — that  is,  the  idea 
of  a  complete  collection  of  Christian  Scriptures — was 
clearly  defined  in  the  Christian  mind.  Terms  expres- 
sive of  this  idea  began  to  appear.  We  find  the  names 
Novum  Instrumentum  and  Novum  Test  amentum,  the 
"New  Instrument"  and  the  "New  Testament, "  in 
Tertullian.  Both  seem  to  have  been  current  in  his 
time;  the  second  being,  he  says,  more  commonly 
used.  "Testament"  is  a  literal  translation  of  the 
well-known  Greek  word  diatheke,  and  was  no  doubt 
suggested  by  Second  Corinthians  iii.  6.  This  name  had 
superior  merits  to  "Instrument,"  and  quickly  becui:: 


FURTHER  HISTORY  OF  THE  CANON.  319 

the  only  name  applied  to  the  Christian  Canon. 
About  the  middle  of  the  third  century,  Origen  speaks 
of  the  "Canonical  Books,"  and  about  the  close  of  the 
fourth,  Chrysostom  gave  to  the  two  Testaments,  now 
brought  together  and  equalized  in  the  minds  of  Chris- 
tians, the  name  they  have  since  borne,  THE  BIBLE. 
It  has  been  stated  that  the  Church  had  not,  in  a 
few  cases,  made  up  its  mind  at  the  close  of  the  second 
century.  As  I  here  deal  with  a  method  or  a  process, 
and  with  specific  facts  only  for  illustration,  I  am  not 
called  upon  to  trace  the  history  of  these  books  one 
by  one.  Nor  must  it  be  supposed  that  any  attempt 
has  been  made  to  present  all  the  evidence  showing 
the  currency  of  the  other  books,  and  the  fact  of  their 
acceptance  as  Scripture.  Far  from  it;  in  fact,  only 
a  few  of  the  many  witnesses  that  might  be  called  have 
been  even  named. 

By  and  by  the  Canon  naturally  began  to  attract  the 
attention  of  the  Church  Councils.  Passing  by  the 
Council  of  Laodicea,  the  history  of  which  in  connec- 
tion with  this  subject  is  in  doubt,  we  come  to  the 
Third  Council  of  Carthage,  which  sat  in  the  year  397, 
and  which  promulgated  a  Canon  of  Scripture,  Old 
and  New.  "Of  the  New  Testament:  Four  books  of 
the  Gospels,  one  book  of  The  Acts  of  the  Apostles, 
thirteen  Epistles  of  the  Apostle  Paul,  one  Epistle  of 
the  same  [writer]  to  the  Hebrews,  two  Epistles  of  the 
Apostle  Peter,  three  of  John,  one  of  James,  one  of 
Jude,  one  book  of  the  Apocalypse  of  John."* 

It  cannot  be  said  that  this  decree  put  an  end  to 
controversy,  for  the  question  of  the  Canon  has  been 

*  Westcott,  p.  408. 


320         THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

since  opened  by  individual  writers  time  and  again, 
but  the  great  body  of  Christian  believers  has  ever 
clung  to  the  Canon  as  it  was  finally  agreed  upon 
towards  the  close  of  the  fourth  century.  Councils 
later  than  the  Third  of  Carthage  have  reaffirmed  the 
catalogue  of  Sacred  Books,  even  down  to  our  own 
day.  This  has  not  been  done,  however,  so  much  to 
settle  disputes  as  to  declare  what  had  been  handed 
down  and  received  as  Scripture  from  earlier  times. 
In  fact,  the  decree  of  Carthage  only  declares  the 
Church  consensus,  and  settles  the  one  or  two  ques- 
tions that  are  still  in  doubt. 

Frequent  mention  has  been  made  of  the  Church. 
This  term  has  been  used  as  synonymous  with  the  body 
of  believers.  When  it  is  said  such  and  such  books 
"were  received  by  the  Church,"  the  meaning  is,  T)y 
the  great  mass  of  Christians.  The  term  is  not  used, 
therefore,  in  the  corporate  sense  of  Catholic  and 
High  Church  writers.  Manifestly  no  authority  but  that 
of  the  Church,  as  thus  defined,  was  competent  to  pass 
upon  the  Christian  Writings.  The  Gospels,  the  Epis- 
tles, etc.,  were  written  to  Christians,  and  for  Chris- 
tians; they  were  understood  and  appreciated,  in  their 
history  and  doctrine,  by  Christians;  and  they  alone 
could  authenticate  them.  It  was  just  as  it  would 
have  been  in  the  analogous  case  of  the  supposed 
Socratic  Society  mentioned  in  the  introduction. 

By  what  rules  was  the  Church  guided  in  making  up 
its  judgment?  The  answer  to  this  all-important  ques- 
tion is  given  by  Dr.  Davidson  in  these  words: 

' '  The  preceding  observations  show  that  the  formation  of  the 
New  Testament  Canon  was  gradual.  The  collection  was  not 


FURTHER  HISTORY  OF  THE  CANON.  321 

made  by  one  man,  one  council,  at  one  time,  or  in  one  place. 
The  adherents  of  the  Christian  religion  in  different  lands  came 
to  agree  in  the  same  conclusion  progressively,  and  by  tacit  con- 
sent. They  did  so  independently  to  a  great  extent,  in  countries 
remote  from  one  another.  They  judged  by  internal  evidence , 
by  tradition,  by  the  fact  of  the  writers  being  Apostles  or  Apos- 
tolic men.  Some  relied  on  one  criterion,  some  on  another ;  the 
majority  perhaps  on  ecclesiastical  tradition  ;  the  most  reflecting 
and  critical  on  internal  evidence.  Slowly  and  surely  did  they 
arrive  at  the  entire  separation  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures  from  the 
spurious  imitations  which  were  then  current.  And  in  the  result 
of  their  judgment  modern  scholars  commonly  acquiesce. ' '  * 

This  statement  cannot  be  improved  upon:  "The 
adherents  of  the  Christian  religion  in  different  lands 
came  to  agree  in  the  same  conclusion  progressively 
and  by  tacit  consent.77  The  main  questions  concerning 
a  book,  from  the  very  beginning,  were  these:  "  Did  it 
have  an  Apostle  or  an  Apostolic  man  for  its  author?  " 
and  "  Has  the  book  had  currency  in  the  churches 
from  the  first  age?"  Thus  Tertullian  declared:  "Mar- 
cion's  Gospel  is  not  known  to  most  people,  and  to 
none  whatever  is  it  known  without  being  at  the  same 
time  condemned." 

Surprise  has  sometimes  been  expressed  that  the 
Canon  was  so  long  in  forming — that  books  were  in 
dispute,  and  that  disputes  lasted  to  so  late  a  day;  and 
the  authority  of  the  Canon  has  sometimes  been  object- 
ed to  on  this  ground.  The  surprise  and  the  objection 
argue  a  failure  to  understand  the  Primitive  Church, 
and  the  world  in  which  it  existed.  When  we  remem- 
ber that  the  Gospel  was  at  first  oral  preaching;  that 
the  books  were  widely  scattered;  that  they  had  to 
prove  themselves  to  a  widely  scattered  Church,  and 

*  A  Treatise  on  Biblical  Criticism.    Vol.  II.,  pp.  36,  37. 


322         THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

that  the  means  of  comparing  documents  and  weighing 
evidence  were  scanty, — there  is  no  room  for  either 
surprise  or  objection.  It  should  be  remembered,  too, 
that  by  far  the  larger  share  of  The  New  Testament, 
both  in  number  of  books  and  in  volume,  never  was 
in  dispute,  save  as  it  may  have  been  disputed  by 
heretics.  Moreover,  the  man  who  will  to-day  care- 
fully follow  the  history  of  the  Ancient  Church  in  its 
dealing  with  the  Canon,  and  seek  to  do  what  the 
Ancient  Church  did,  will  find  himself  repeating  its 
mental  history  at  every  step.  If  he  will  set  aside  all 
decrees  and  canons  of  Councils,  and  seek  from  the 
original  evidence  to  construct  a  canon  for  himself— 
using  the  very  evidence  that  the  Church  used  so  far 
as  it  now  exists — he  will  advance  boldly  where  the 
Church  advanced  boldly,  and  where  the  Church  hesi- 
tated he  will  hesitate.  This  has  been  the  uniform 
experience  of  those  who  have  honestly  made  the 
effort.  Than  this,  the  caution  and  the  wisdom  of  the 
Ancient  Church  can  have  no  better  vindication.  As 
Dr.  Davidson  says,  in  the  judgment  of  the  Ancient 
Church  modern  scholars  commonly  acquiesce. 

Surprise  is  also  sometimes  expressed  that  it  should 
have  been  for  some  time  an  open  question  whether 
certain  writings  not  found  in  our  Testament  were  not 
also  canonical.  Mention  may  be  made  of  the  Epis- 
tles of  Clement  of  Rome  and  of  Barnabas.  There  is 
nothing  in  the  facts  that  should  create  surprise. 
These  writings  were  accepted  as  genuine,  but  the 
question  of  the  standing  to  be  accorded  to  their 
authors  only  time  could  settle. 

That  plenty  of  time  was  taken  to  settle  the  various 


FURTHER  HISTORY  OF  THE  CANON.  323 

points  in  dispute,  was  honorable  to  the  Church  rather 
than  otherwise.  On  the  whole  subject  the  wildest 
statements  are  sometimes  made.  It  is  charged,  for 
instance,  that  the  status  of  every  book  in  the  Canon 
was  determined  by  the  votes  of  councils,  often  by 
small  majorities,  and  that  books  which  were  thrown 
aside  had  claims  to  an  Apostolic  character  quite  as 
strong  as  other  books  that  were  admitted.  Much  has 
been  said  and  written  upon  the  absurdity  of  settling 
by  yea  and  nay  votes,  in  a  great  assembly,  whether  a 
given  book  was  "Scripture"  or  not.  So  far  from 
these  representations  dealing  fairly  with  the  facts, 
they  are  wholly  false  to  the  facts,  and  to  the  spirit 
which  in  the  progressive  settlement  was  made. 

One  point  further  may  be  urged.  In  respect  to 
much  the  larger  number  of  books,  there  was  never 
any  question  at  all  as  to  whether  they  should  be  ad- 
mitted to  the  Canon.  So  far  as  existing  evidence 
shows,  there  was  unanimity,  practically  so,  concerning 
these  books  from  the  very  beginning.  For  the  sake 
of  argument,  we  will  suppose  that  in  cases  of  doubt 
or  hesitation  the  decision  reached  was  as  often  wrong 
as  right.  What  then?  We  are  still  left  with  three- 
fourths  of  the  New  Testament  books,  and  more  than 
three-fourths  of  the  matter,  substantially  unaffected 
by  internal  disputes.  Still  more,  several  of  the  most 
important  of  the  books  go  back  to  the  middle  of  the 
first  century;  and  if  all  others  should  be  thrown 
aside,  we  should  still  have  the  most  ample  evidence  to 
the  existence,  at  that  time,  of  the  cardinal  Christian 
teachings  and  institutions. 


INDEX. 


JESUS  AS  A  TEACHER. 

Aramaic,  language  of  Jesus,  82. 

Accommodation,  intellectual,    Jesus    recognizes,    126-130;    to  the  feelings, 

130-134. 

Aristotle,  see  philosophers,  The  Greek. 

Alford,  Dean,  on  the  meaning  of  prophecy,  79;  parable  defined  by,  158,  159. 
Apperception,  defined,  169-172;  made  use  of  by  Jesus,  173-175. 
Authority,  Jesus  taught  with,  113-117;   of  intuition,  117,  118;  of  scribes,  118- 

126. 

Bacon,  on  the  skillful  question,  190;    his  manner  of  approaching  nature,  224. 
Baptism,  109-111;  founded  on  the  Oriental  rite,  112. 
Babylon,  exile  of  Jews  to,  changed  their  character,  27. 

Carlyle,  Thomas,  quoted  on  literary  criticism,  131. 

Child,  The,  as  a  type  of  the  disciple,  225;  relation  of  life  of  to  adult  life,  225. 

Children,  more  prominent  in  literature  than  formerly,  214-217;    causes   for 

change,  217;  attitude  of  Jesus  to,  217-224. 
Christianity,  a  gospel  and  a  discipline,  1;    stress  laid  upon  these  factors  in 

preparation  of  the  world  for,  94. 
Church,  how  founded  by  Jesus,  104-108;  origin  of  name,  106;   spirit  of  the, 

108,  109. 

Compayr^,  quoted  on  method,  229,  230. 
Corban,  the  Rabbinical  system  of,  59-61;  exposed  by  Jesus,  78. 

De  Pressense,  on  the  Gospel,  2. 

De  Quincy,  quoted  on  the  offices  of  literature,  242,  243. 

Education,  two  relations  under  which  it  may  be  regarded,  18,  19;  suggests  to 
most  minds  a  school,  25;  facts  that  influenced,  at  Rome,  25;  Jewish,  be- 
gan with  the  mother,  28-30;  the  duty  of  the  father,  30,  31;  manner  of, 
32;  thoroughness  of ,  34-38;  superiority  of  the  new  over  the  old,  226. 

Emerson,  R.  W. ,  never  attempted  to  prove  his  teaching,  48. 

Faith,  the  kind  Jesus  preached,  238;  Dr.  Hatch  quoted  in  regard  to,  238-240. 

Farrar,  Canon,  on  Oriental  children,  16,  17;  on  Jesus's  knowledge  of  the 
Sacred  Scriptures,  38;  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  languages,  39;  how  he 
deals  with  the  quotations  of  the  New  Testament,  88,  89;  sets  aside  the 
(325) 


326  INDEX. 

theory  that  Jesus  borrowed  from  sects  and  teachers  of  his  time,  98,  99; 

on  the  severity  of  Jesus,  204-207. 
Feasts,  The  Jewish,  of  Esther,  of  the  Passover,  of  Weeks,  of  the  New  Year, 

of  Tabernacles,  29. 
Feelings,  The,  influence  of,  173. 

Geikie,  Dr.,   on  the  teaching  of  the  Rabbis  compared  with  that  of  Jesus, 

119,  120. 

Gnomes,  or  maxims.    See  Proverbs. 
Goethe,  on  the  Hebrew  nice,  26. 
Greece,  created  the  intellect  that  has  critically  investigated  the  literature  of 

the  Jews,  70. 
Hatch,  Dr.,  quoted  on  manner  of  Jesus's  teaching,  70;    on  the  Christian 

faith,   238-240. 
Hill,  Dr.  Birkbeck,  quotation  from  the  Life  of  Rowland  Hill  by,  208,  209. 

Inspiration,  higher  manifestation  of  spiritual  intuition,  117. 
Isaiah,  see  Prophets,  The  Hebrew. 

Jacotot,  quoted  on  teaching,  229. 

Jameson,  Mrs.,  early  Christian  art  embodies  our  Lord  under  that  form  in 

which  he  imaged  himself,  4,5. 
Jerusalem,  Jesus's  first  visit  to,  16,  17. 

Josephus,  on  the  Jewish  child,  17;  on  manner  of  Jewish  education,  34,  35. 
Judaism,  the  beginning  of  our  religion,  87. 

Keerux,  herald,  The  Greek,  1. 

Lange,  Dr.,  Christ  a  teacher  and  mediator,  124;  Christ's  forms  and  methods 
of  teaching,  136,  137,  139,  145,  146;  definition  of  parable,  158;  definition 
of  proverb,  145;  on  currency  of  teaching  by  proverbs  among  the  Jews, 
146. 

Law,  The  Roman,  25;  The  Jewish,  characteristics  of,  enjoined  upon  parents 
to  teach  to  their  children,  26,  27;  its  adaptation  to  the  wants  of  the  peo- 
ple, 28;  spirit  of,  sacrificed  to  the  letter,  62-64;  Jehovah,  center  of 
Jewish,  67;  The  Mosaic,  a  religious  code,  68;  influence  of,  upon  Jesus, 
94-98. 

Lecky,  W.  E.  H.,  describes  the  difference  between  Pagan  and  Christian 
teaching,  40. 

Milman,  Dean,  shows  how  legalism  necessitated  tradition,  54,  55. 

Ministers,  Christian,  106. 

Ministry,  The,  Christian;  functions  of,  1;  of  Jesus,  began  at  Capernaum,  6; 

kind  of ,  7-9;  range  of ,  9-11;  immediate  effects  of,  11;  manner  of ,  11,12; 

unique  character  of,  12,  13;  qualifications  for,  38-41. 
Method,  Jesus's,  of  teaching,  125-146;  developing  defined,  176-178;  recognized 

by  Jesus,  178. 
Method,  comparative,  marks  a  stage  In  the  progress  of  the  human  mind, 

92,  93;  a  wide  difference  of  opinions  in  regard  to,  229;  Compayr^  quoted 

in  regard  to,  229;  Jesus  says  nothing  about,  230;  greatest  teachers  say 

little  or  nothing  of,  230. 


INDEX.  327 

Neander,  Dr.,  on  Jesus'  adaptation,  125-129;  on  His  method  of  teaching, 
136-140. 

Ordinances,  Jesus  recognized  the  necessity  of,  109,  110;  the  Lord's  supper, 

112;  baptism,  109. 
Orient,  The,  characteristics  of,  19;  customs  of ,  23,  24;  literature  of ,  147-151. 

Paul,  the  Apostle,  a  preacher  to  the  Gentiles,  13;  quoted,  221. 

Parable,  used  by  Jesus  in  teaching,  158-168;  defined,  158,  159;  used  in  Judaea 

from  the  time  of  the  Judges  to  Jesus,  160;  adapted  to  the  teaching  of 

Jesus,   161-163;    most  effective  mode  of  teaching  in  New  Testament, 

163-165;  why  Jesus  used,  165-168,  237. 
Peabody,  Dr.  A.  P.,  on  methods  of  teaching,  126,  127. 
Pentateuch,  The,  precepts  of,  97. 
Perspective,  defined,  184-186;  Jesus  recognized  it  in  His  teaching,  187-189; 

consequences  of  defects  in,  189. 

Pharisees,  The,  sit  in  Moses's  seat,  113;  attempt  to  entangle  Jesus  in  argu- 
ment, 142-144. 

Philo,  quoted  in  relation  to  the  Law,  35. 
Philosophers,  The  Greek,  Plato,  Aristotle,  Zeno,  teachers  unlike  Jesus,  6; 

Socrates,  ability  to  ask  and  answer  questions,  190;  Aristotle,  about 

teaching,  87;  his  characterization  of  the  East  and  West,  147. 
Philosophy,  scheme  or  system  of  thought,  230;  has  its  place,  230;  Jesus  a 

guide  as  to  teaching,  231. 
Poimcen,  pastor,  applied  to  Jesus,  4, 108;  preacher,  contrasted  with  teacher, 

13;  Jesus  the  first,  of  the  Christian  Church,  13. 
Prophecy,  extinct,  121. 
Prophets,  The,  of  Old  Testament,  preachers  and  teachers,  68,  69;    how,  and 

for  what  purpose  quoted  by  Jesus,  79-82;  spiritual  truth  emphasized  by 

Micah,96;  by  Isaiah,  96. 
Proverbs,  or  gnomes,  a  favorite  mode  of  teaching  among  the  Jews,  145;  used 

by  all  Oriental  peoples,  46;  used  by  Solomon,  148,  153;  in  the  hands  of 

Jesus,  155,  157. 
Presbuteros,  elder,  use  of  term  in  the  early  Church,  107,  108. 

Qualities,  moral,  courage,  truth,  justice,  righteousness,  give  character  its 
firmness,  201;  compassion,  pity,  tenderness,  innocence,  give  character 
its  grace  and  loveliness,  201;  justice  compared  with  compassion,  202;  all 
unite  in  Jesus,  204,  205;  severe,  of  Jesus,  204-212;  emphasis  placed  on 
the  gentler,  in  recent  times,  209,  210;  naturalness  and  simplicity  of 
Jesus,  225. 

Questions,  ethical  and  practical,  in  morals,  190;  different  answers  to,  narrow 
and  broad,  190,  191;  manner  of  answering,  a  guage  of  mental  power  of 
the  teacher,  191;  Jesus  in  respect  to,  a  teacher  of  authority,  192-200. 

Rabbis,  legalists  and  traditionalists,  54-56;  effect  of  teaching,  56-62;  Jesus 
expanded  the  teaching  of,  72-77;  work  of,  set  at  naught  by  Jesus,  86; 
succeeded  the  prophets  and  priests  as  teachers,  97,  98;  official  repre- 
sentatives of  Jewish  system  of  teaching,  114. 


828  INDEX. 

Rousseau,  J.  J.,  quoted  on  Jesus 's  teaching,  51;  his  interest  in  the  child,  225. 
Ruskin,  John,  quoted  on  morality,  245,  246. 

Sabbath,  meaning  of,  62,  63;  Jesus 's  treatment  of,  74,  75. 

Sadducees,  The,  questioned  by  Jesus,  194,  195. 

Scribes,  The,  unlike  Jesus  in  methods  of  teaching,  67;  demanded  that  Jesus 

should  conform  to  their  rule,  61;  authority  of,  118,  119. 
Scripture,  books  of,  referred  to  by  Jesus,  84;  how  handled  by  Him,  84-86; 

letter  of,  remains  the  same  but  with  new  meanings,  88. 
Scriptures,  The,  subject  to  criticism,  65;  not  all  of  equal  authority,  66,  67; 

Jewish,  like  Greek,  practical  and  ethical,  purpose  of  Jesus  in  quoting, 

78-80. 

Scudder,  H.  E. ,  quoted  on  the  child,  213. 
Septuagint,  The,  Greek  version  of  Scriptures,  82,  83. 

Shepherd,  The  Good,  the  first  conception  of  Jesus  to  be  expressed  in  art,  4. 
Socrates,  see  Greek  philosophers. 
Stanley,  Dean,  on  the  word  "prophet,"  3;  Oriental  life  described  by,  23,  24; 

on  the  synagogue,  105;  gives  origin  of  the  name  Ecclesia,  106;  on  origin  , 

of  the  sermon,  109;  on  baptism,  111,  122;    likens  Christ's  teaching  to 

Solomon's,  152;  likened  to  Jesus  by,  152,  153. 

Teacher  and  teachers,  qualifications  of,  Jesus  possessed  them  in  a  high 
degree,  15,  42-47;  Jewish,  generally  the  chazzan  of  the  synagogue,  31; 
position  in  Judea,  35,  36;  the  greatest  religions,  assume  and  do  not 
attempt  to  prove  fundamental  truth,  48,  49,  50;  intuition  of  Jesus  as  a, 
50,  51;  adaptation  as  a,  52,  53;  priests  and  prophets  considered  as,  95-97; 
Jesus  most  original  of,  100-103;  a  model,  for  those  who  should  come 
after  Him,  230;  the  wise,  conducts  his  work  according  to  certain  peda- 
gogical principles,  237. 

Teaching,  Lecky  describes  difference  between  Pagan  and  Christian,  40,  41; 
Jesus 's  manner  of,  70-75,  232-236;  formed  no  system  of  theological,  86; 
method  of,  125-168;  like  Solomon's,  153-157;  employed  questioning  in, 
140-144;  maxims,  gnomes,  or  proverbs  in,  145-157;  use  of  the  parable 
in,  158-168;  use  of  illustrations  drawn  from  common  life  in,  180-183; 
perspective  in,  recognized  by  Jesus,  187-189;  imitation  of  the  sterner 
passages  in  the  life  of  Jesus,  211,  212;  Jesus's  theory  of,  227;  under 
three  heads,  232;  Jesus's  manner  of,  238;  moral  and  religious,  must 
take  hold  of  the  active  principles  of  human  nature,  243;  characteristics 
of  Jesus's,  243-245;  Ruskin  quoted  on,  245. 

Text-books,  Jewish,  the  Bible,  15;  the  Mischna,  31;  the  Talmud,  32. 

Titles,  of  Jesus,  5. 

Theology,  defined,  230;  its  place,  230;  proper  use  of,  231;  mistakes  of  Chris- 
tian world  in  regard  to,  242,  243. 

Theory,  proper  meaning  of,  227;  no  man  of  ideas  without,  228;  good  and  bad, 
228;  of  the  quack,  229;  of  the  scientific  physician,  229;  educational, 
229,  230;  not  a  machine,  229. 

"Will,  The,  part  of,  in  mental  growth,  172,  173. 


INDEX.  329 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

Apostles,  Acts  of,  different  kind  of  writing  from  the  Gospels,  259-262;  reads 
like  the  Gospels,  257,  258. 

Apostles,  The  Twelve,  fitness  of,  how  taught  by  Christ,  256,  257;  oral  teach- 
ers and  preachers,  264;  preaching  of,  covered  more  ground  than  that  of 
Jesus,  267,  268;  planted  the  first  churches,  302,  303. 

Bacon,  his  "anticipations,"  297. 

Bossuet,  quoted  on  foundation  of  the  Church,  259. 

Canon,  The,  how  made  up,  300-304,  312-314;  complete  and  final,  304,  305;  defi- 
nition of  the  word,  307,  308;  of  Marcion,  311;  determined  by  the  practice 
of  the  Church,  312;  agreed  upon,  318-320;  question  of  admitting  certain 
books  to,  323. 

Causes  that  led  to  the  writing  of  the  New  Testament,  249. 

Christianity,  important  facts  concerning,  free  from  dispute,  254. 

Church,  The,  the  great  theme  of  the  Christian  Scriptures,  296;  differentiation 
of,  2%,  297;  meaning  of  word,  320;  how  guided  in  judging  books,  320, 
321;  history  of,  in  relation  to  the  Canon,  322. 

Councils,  The  Church,  reaffirmed  the  Canon,  319,  320. 

Creeds,  The,  first  replies  of  the  Church  to  heretics,  311. 

Davidson,  Dr. ,  quoted  on  the  formation  of  the  Canon,  320,  321. 

De  Presess6,  on  origin  of  the  Gospels,  204-207. 

Disciples,  followers  of  Jesus,  286;  ceased  not  to  preach,  281,  282. 

Epistles,  The,  written  before  the  Gospels,  268;  origin  of ,  269;  characteristics 
of,  270-272;  supersede  the  oral  Gospel,  290;  regarded  as  Scripture,  305; 
of  Apostolic  Fathers,  306;  written  to  and  for  Christians,  320;  of  Clement 
and  Barnabas,  322. 

Fathers,  The  Apostolic,  306,  311,  3f2,  315,  316,  321. 

Gospel,  The,  began  with  preaching,  265;  spread  of,  266;  views  of  the  history 

of,  280. 
Gospels,  The,  differ  from  the  Acts,  259-261;  reasons  for  writing,  273-276;  age 

of,  279;  the  first,  sermons  of  the  Apostles,  282,  283;  need  of,  283,  284; 

origin  of,  284;  how  written,  292,  293;  give  true  history  of  the  first  age  of 

the  Church,  294,  295;  teaching  of,  ethical  and  spiritual,  295;  faithfulness 

of,  293;  written  for  Christians,  320. 

Howson,  Dean,  quoted  on  first  Epistle,  265,  266. 
Inspiration,  old  theory  of,  260. 

Literature,  New  Testament  treated  as,  249-251;  Christian,  relating  to  the 
Canon,  312-314. 

Ministry,  The,  of  Jesus,  starting  point  in  considering  making  of  New  Testaa- 

ment,  255. 
Muratori  Fragment,  The,  312-314. 


330  INDEX. 

Neander,  Dr. ,  quoted  on  Apostolic  Fathers,  263. 

Paradidonai,  paradosis,  285,  286,  288,  289. 
Peshito  Version,  The,  312-314. 

Preaching,  oral,  source  of  historical  Christianity,  268;  adaptation  of,  to  early 
Christians,  272. 

Renan,  author  of  legendary  theory,  to  account  for  Jesus,  255. 

Scriptures,  The,  to  be  subjected  to  the  same  tests  as  other  similar  books,  250; 
illustrated  by  assumed  Socratic  writings,  251;  difficulties  in  the  way  of, 
252;  full  treatment  of,  not  contemplated,  252;  other,  than  those  of  the 
Old  Testament.  305. 

Strauss,  Dr. ,  author  of  myth  theory  to  account  for  Jesus,  255. 

Teacher  and  teachers,  Jesus  an  oral,  258;  Apostles  also,  258;  Jesus  as  a, 
compared  with  the  Scribes,  262;  with  the  Apostles,  262,  263. 

Theories,  The,  to  account  for  Jesus,  changed,  255;  Strauss  and  Renan  pro- 
pounded most  important  ones  in  recent  years,  255. 

Tischendorf ,  Dr. ,  in  regard  to  age  of  four  Gospels,  294. 

Tradition,  growth  of,  276,  277;  original  Christian,  defined,  285-288. 

Westcott,  Bishop,  on  the  Canon,  309-315. 


of  THE 
UNIVERSITY 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  5O  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


APR  30  Wl 

t'O     oo    ,        , 

•    cfti  H«3 

r 

- 

REC'D  UD 

APR  1     I960 

IAN  *}  1  1Q7^>  9 

JMI1  0  1  |y/J  £  eJ 

BEC'D  LP    JAN  3_fi  '7^  -in  AM  3  1 

"'*"•' 

RIVERaCC 

•AN 

4/045 


